Cherargei: Why MPs supported Finance Bill 2024

Nandi Senator  Samson Cherargei on Spice FM on Tuesday, July 2. [Spice FM]

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has defended MPs who voted for the controversial Finance Bill 2024 saying that they pursued the party position to vote for what they believed was good for the country.

According to Cherargei, there was widespread misinformation concerning the Bill's content leading to the animosity being directed towards the honourable legislators.

“I beg that the public should not be too harsh to parliament. I believe there was a lot of misinformation about the finance bill because issues like the road maintenance levy and land laws were in separate bills,” said Cherargei on Spice FM.

“All parliaments run courtesy of parties. The decision is normally made by the party. I can take a different opinion but when the party gives a certain direction we take it,” he added.

The senator believes that the austerity measures announced by President William Ruto during his Sunday, June 30, media roundtable are necessary for maintaining proper fiscal health.

“I agree with the scrapping of the first lady's office, spouses of the deputy president and prime cabinet secretary. Some governors even had wardrobe allowances for their first ladies in the first term of devolution,” he said.

The office of first lady, Rachel Ruto, and that of the spouse of the Deputy President, Dorcas Rigathi, had jointly been allocated a cumulative sum of Sh 1.2 billion in the shelved 2024/2025 budget.

However, parliament must amend laws including the Appropriations Bill, County Revenue Allocation Act, and the Division of Revenue Act to align with the current budget.

Cherargei has advised against cutting the development budgets arguing that the said austerity should only apply to non-essential votes.

According to Cherargei, the nation finds itself at an unexpected inflection point aggravated by numerous missed opportunities to address deeply seated ills including corruption and blatant wastage of public resources.

He has expressed admiration to young protesters for their interest in the country’s governance affairs and requested them to agree to a dialogue with President Ruto.