Occupy Parliament destruction repairs to cost Sh100 million

By Peter Ochieng

The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) on Monday issued an initial report on the damage caused by protesters who occupied parliament on 25th June.

The damage, according to the PSC, will be repaired at an initial cost of Sh100 million. The revelation was made during the presentation of the 2024/2025 supplementary budget, by the commission.

“We are yet to get the estimates from the system which was mainly the security side, which is estimated to be quite high,” PSC Director General Clement Nyandiere said.

He added that the cost of damages, destruction and property will be catered for by Insurance, while the institution will bear the cost of vandalism. “We had insurance for buildings and fire which will be taken care of. The insurer has given us information on things which will not be taken care of which include systems which may be significant,” added Nyandiere.

As such, he said, the cost of repairs may go up. Protesters breached Parliament at the height of the anti-Finance Bill, 2024 demonstrations sending Members of Parliament and Senators in a state of panic.

The legislatures were swiftly evacuated, as Senate Speaker Amoson Jeffa Kingi was allegedly whisked away using an ambulance. For three weeks, Parliament precincts have been regarded as a ‘crime scene’ to pave way for investigations.

Members of the Public including journalists were reportedly, temporarily barred from accessing the main precincts of the bicameral house.

However, addressing the press on Monday, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula denied claims that journalists had been barred from accessing Parliament. He said the Media Centre had to be set aside for other Parliamentary duties, after the vandalism witnessed during the protests.

“You also, I am sure you are aware, I have been seeing in the media allegations that there are restrictions on the media coming to Parliament. Nothing is far from the truth and the testimony to that is your being here before me, that you have come to Parliament to do your work as you always do.”

“The only issue is that following the extensive damage that Parliament suffered, we have as management allocated media that covers Parliament space across the road at the Red Cross building,” he said.

Wetang’ula said they have a budget to construct a state of the art media Centre within Parliament compound, a process that may take up to 4 months.