On X, where the activities gathered burning steam, influential X personality Amerix started the hashtag #RespectMyHustle, under which he galvanised Kenyans into action, telling them to directly call their respective Members of Parliament and ask them to vote down the bill.
He tweeted: “60% of your income goes to the taxman. Whom are you working for. You are working for the state. You are a slave. Refuse to be a slave. Pick up your phone now, and call your member of Parliament. Tell him to reject The Finance Bill. Add here their numbers…. ”
Leading from the front, Amerix rolled out a list of phone numbers belonging to various legislators, encouraging his followers and Kenyans at large to boldly share more phone numbers and deliver the message right into the homes of the MPs.
Soon enough, things started heating up, more people joined the bandwagon, more phone numbers were published and the trend caught fire towards the end of the day.
For instance, while sharing Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro’s number, Amerix urged Kenyans to call him, text him and spam him into rejecting the bill and standing up for the people of Kiharu.
“Call Mr. Ndindi Nyoro, MP Kiharu Constituency. Jam his phone with texts & calls to reject the finance bill. Remind him that he was elected to represent the voice of Kiharu. Kiharu have a right to call, text, remind, and recall their MP!” he tweeted.
More phone numbers were soon publicly shared out…. Silvanus Osoro, Gideon Kimaiyo, Mohammed Tubi, Peter Salaysa, Patrick Simiyu, Dan Wanyama, Reuben Kiborek, John Paul Mwirigi, Kimani Ichungwa, Jessica Mbalu, Wambugu Maina and hundreds more.
X personality Wesley Kibande, alone, shared out over 30 phone numbers as hundreds more jammed the comment section with yet more phone numbers.
“Call them! Text them! Spam them! Do not let them sleep! Blow up their phones! They have to do what they were elected to do – represent us! It’s now or never!” X user Karen Ngari tweeted.
Other Kenyans widely shared screenshots of their text messages sent to their respective members of Parliament. Some even audaciously texted President William Ruto.
Evidently, a few MPs, already, appear to have felt the heat from Amerix’s tweets or have actually been repeatedly called by their constituents.
Reacting to one Amerix tweet, Narok Senator Ledama Olekina simply said, “It’s time!”
On his part, Starehe MP Amos Mwago made a solid promise, saying, “Good Morning… tukifika hapo kwa finance bill voting, sitawangusha. Mambo ni live live hakuna kudanganyana.”
Mumias East MP Peter Salaysa also confirmed that Kenyans had been spamming him with phone calls – even sending him small amounts of money to confirm the phone number’s authenticity.
“Who has shared my number on @x. Everybody across the nation is calling my number, texting me and WhatsApping me. I can’t sleep the phone is vibrating throughout ati I reject finance bill kesho na wananitumia shilingi moja kwa mpesa to confirm if it’s me. We are not voting tomorrow!” he tweeted.
On Tuesday, June 11, the National Treasury came out to defend the proposed tax measures in the Finance Bill stating that the decision to introduce new taxes was informed by the country’s huge debt.
Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, while appearing before the Finance and Planning committee, noted the country was grappling with a debt of Ksh11 trillion.
“The huge public debt informs the tax measures we are taking, we feel we need to raise our revenues rather than relying on debt to finance our budget,” Kiptoo argued.
“Considering the need to mobilize sufficient revenue to stabilize our debt, I urge the Committee Members to favourably consider all the proposed provisions in the Finance Bill, 2024,” he added.
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