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Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo recounted the events that unfolded after Gen Z protesters breached security cordons and stormed Parliament on June 25, 2024, during the anti-tax demonstrations. Speaking on a podcast hosted by Chaxy, the lawmaker described the day as chaotic and frightening, adding that several key events still have not been fully captured.
She said opposition MPs resisted most of the proposed amendments to the Finance Bill, but they faced a numerical disadvantage against government-allied lawmakers, with 195 MPs voting in favor and 106 against.
“When we saw we could not succeed, we decided to march out. We were going to give a presser, but on our way out, we were told somebody had been shot outside Parliament,” she said. “I then saw a group of hooded people with guns,” she added.
Odhiambo said she first ran back into the parliamentary lounge to protect herself rather than returning to the chamber.
“I said if I’m seeing hooded people with guns around Parliament, I’m not taking chances. After a while, I was told that Parliament had been breached on the side of the Senate, so I ran back into Parliament, and I warned the other parliamentarians, and I told them, ‘Please leave’.”
She also said she cautioned colleagues that their safety could no longer be guaranteed because the crowd inside Parliament appeared infiltrated and not necessarily made up of the peaceful Gen Z protesters.
“I was chased, and I remember I ran into Parliament barefoot at that point, and they chased me. They told me, ‘You are just trying to scare us, and we are finishing’.”
Odhiambo said lawmakers initially dismissed her warnings, but they soon understood the seriousness as the situation worsened rapidly. She recalled how some MPs fainted while trying to escape.
“I was sharing with one of my colleagues the other day that when I see her today, I remember seeing her faint in the tunnel, which I discovered that day. I didn’t even know it existed and had heard that there was a tunnel, but I had never used it,” she said.
How a Secret Tunnel Became the Only Escape Route
Odhiambo said lawmakers later received instructions to evacuate through the tunnel. She also described seeing a pregnant lawmaker there who appeared to be close to going into labour.
“It was terrible. People have not given half the stories of what happened to Parliament that day, and that’s why, sometimes, when we forget and go back, I’m like, ‘I don’t know what demon has befallen us.”
Millie Odhimabo said MPs used every available route to get out, including disguising themselves in ambulances, though some vehicles protesters intercepted.
“They were stoned and taken back to Parliament. People were picked up in choppers. Some members told me they ran into some buildings and the watchmen refused to allow them in. They said, ‘Go and sort out the mess. We are not allowing you in here’,” she added.
When asked what could have happened if the tunnel did not exist, Odhiambo replied, “Half the Parliament would be no more.”
She also made a clear distinction between peaceful protesters and the people she believes infiltrated the demonstrations.
“It’s not because of Gen Z, because Gen Z were fairly peaceful,” she said, adding that some protesters even helped lawmakers with disabilities reach safety.
Millie’s Saddest Moments in Parliament
Millie described the most painful moment of her life as the time she encountered MPs living with disabilities near the parliamentary lounge while she rushed back to collect her bag.
“And that’s one of my saddest moments in Parliament because they asked me to help them and I didn’t know. You know how you face a moral dilemma? I didn’t know what to do, and they asked me to help them, and everybody was running, and I was also running,” she said.
She added that the MPs reassured her that they (protesters) knew her and had no issues with her, but she still felt the situation was too dangerous to stay.
“Then they told me, ‘They know you, and they don’t have issues with you,’ and I know, but the problem is that there was infiltration, so I told them, ‘I don’t think there’s anybody in their right mind who’d attack a person with a disability,'” she said. “I told them I would just pray for you, but unfortunately, I have to leave, and that’s when I ran.”
Millie also said she encountered Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris in the tunnel, where Passaris appeared disoriented and ran in the direction others believed held greater danger.
“She was running towards where people were running from. Others were in the tunnel, fainting; it was chaotic. It was a terrible day. I’m writing something about it. There’s nothing I have ever seen like that,” she said.
Millie maintained that the events of June 25 could have been avoided if MPs had heeded the concerns Kenyans raised about the Finance Bill.
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