Kipchumba Murkomen Speaks after Being Linked with Finance Bill Protests

• A screengrab of a purported conversation between CS Kipchumba Murkomen and an X user was the subject of discussion among some quarters on the social network
• The CS had supposedly reached out to the influencer offering him KSh 500,000 to drive counter-narratives against the finance bill protests
• Seeing the traction the conversation was getting, the Roads and Transport CS came out to flag it as a fake

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Kai Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Nairobi: Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen contests the claims flying that he tried to flex his financial muscle to end the recent anti-finance bill protests.

Roads and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen (pictured) in a past function. Photo: Kipchumba Murkomen. Source: Facebook

According to the assertion on the X social network, Murkomen reached out to a certain bigwig on the platform whom he wanted to use in his mission.

How Murkomen was fixed in protests scandal

He purportedly offered KSh 500,000 to the said person, who would in turn, using his massive account, drive a counter-narrative to quell the mass action demonstrations that spread across the country in disapproval of the Finance Bill 2024.

Murkomen was apparently concerned over the atrocities meted on Kenyans by the state law enforcers in the heat of the demonstrations, thus his intervention.

"Hello Maitre, I see you have a significant following. I would like us to work together for the betterment of our country. I have KSh 500,000 and would like you to mobilise some youths and influencers to stop the protests. Please do this for the sake of their lives," Murkomen purportedly messaged the influencer.

But still psyched with the hysteria to oppose the finance bill, the influencer came up with a counter-proposal to Murkomen.

He asked the CS to double the amount and sponsor youths who had contemplated breaching State House Nairobi.

This, the influencer said, would be a better cause than that of ending the protests.

"I will do this for the sake of my country and a better future. How about you make it 1M so we can buy bulletproof vests and make it to the Statehouse? If we succeed, you won't be forgotten. Otherwise, I'm not making a deal with you to sell out our country," he purportedly wrote to Murkomen.

The proposal did not sit well with Murkomen who exploded on him with an insult, declaring to "find another influencer."

Credulous quarters on X already bought the assertion, throwing epithets at the CS whom they accused of being part of the operatives in government overseeing exploitation of the common citizenry.

Seeing the traction the conversation had received, Murkomen emerged to clarify things.

He flagged the screengrab as a fake, terming the whole talk as propaganda which he cautioned the public against falling for.

According to him, the conversation was doctored to drive a malicious agenda.

"Good people, ignore this propaganda,"

Condemned Finance Bill 2024

In the meantime, the intensity of the anti-finance bill protests that attracted attention across the globe scaled down after President William Ruto bowed to pressure and rejected the Finance Bill 2024.

Kenyans aggrieved by the bill condemned it over its tax propositions believed to be draconian.

The government was seeking to raise an additional KSh 346 billion through the bill; Ruto said the surplus was to service the public debt currently at upward of KSh 10 trillion.

With the National Assembly determined to pass the bill, young Kenyans took to the streets to pressure them against that move.

The protests climaxed with the breach of parliament on Tuesday, June 25.

With the deaths and injuries caused by police action in the protests, the international community voiced their concerns counselling Ruto to loosen his stance on the matter.

Anti-finance bill demos

• The anti-finance bill protests were held for the third time on Thursday, June 27, albeit with the bigwig organisers taking a back seat.
• This was a day after President William Ruto declined assenting to the Finance Bill 2024 whose draconian tax measures triggered countrywide resistance.
• The climax of the protests was the breach of the National Assembly on Tuesday, June 25.