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Kenyans cry foul as ayes ‘beat’ nays in contentious vote

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI September 20th, 2018 2 min read

Kenyans online have protested the manner in which the vote of the Finance Bill 2018 was taken Parliament during Thursday’s stormy session.

Those who were following the proceedings lamented how MPs opposing the amendments were sounded to be more than those in support, yet the chairperson ruled otherwise.

During the voting, the chairperson of the committee of the whole house Narok Woman Representative Soipan Tuya put the question and the ayes were less than the nays but she ruled that the ayes had it.

It was after that vote that members from the opposition celebrated as the Majority Leader Aden Duale stood up and beckoned some members and escorted them out of the House.

Tuya then ordered for the bell to be rang after which the electronic voting would proceed.

But after a long back and forth, there was a standoff as she tried to read the roll-call to establish whether there was a quorum in the House.

The standoff saw the Speaker come back to the House and called members to order before they started explaining that after the nays had it.

Here is the moment the MPs shouted ‘nay’.

And here are the reactions on Twitter: