Kenyan MPs may still be reeling after anti-tax protesters overpowered police and invaded Parliament on Tuesday, but two lawmakers are actually grateful to some of the invaders who came to their aid during the ordeal.
“I was very scared and prayed to God while about 22 young protesters surrounded me,” MP Rose Museo, who uses crutches, told the BBC.
She and her colleague Jackson Kosgei, who uses a wheelchair, were stranded during the two-hour attack. Their colleagues managed to escape by reaching safety via an underground tunnel.
The young protesters smashed windows and eventually entered the chambers in unprecedented scenes, badly damaging parts of parliament. Some even set fire to part of the building.
As an opposition MP, Ms Museo had just voted against the bill they were angry about.
When the protests began last week, they were largely peaceful, with thousands of mainly young demonstrators marching in the capital Nairobi and across the country against a controversial finance bill that would have raised taxes and imposed a raft of other levies.
But tensions were high on Tuesday afternoon when the bill was passed by parliament, despite demonstrations that day that attracted many more people.
Police officers opened fire on the crowd gathered around parliament. Minutes after MPs cast their votes, angry protesters entered the parliament building grounds.
“Everyone was gone and I couldn’t use the elevators because the power was cut off,” said Ms Museo, who was injured in a traffic accident in 2017.
Her colleague, Mr Kosgei, is from the ruling party that backed the controversial legislation aimed at wiping out the country’s nearly $80 billion (£63 billion) national debt.
“We were in the room and suddenly our young men rushed in and everyone was looking for an escape route,” Kosgei told KTN TV.
Those who broke in began destroying furniture, part of the building was set on fire, and a replica of the ceremonial mace, which symbolized the authority of the legislature, was stolen. It usually adorns the reception of a new wing of the parliamentary complex.
“It was getting worse, but my colleague Rose Museo and I decided to face the young men because we could not escape because of our disabilities,” said Mr Kosgei, who became disabled as a child after contracting polio.
The MP, who is also a bishop in an evangelical church, was unsure what would happen to him as he had voted in favour of the contested bill.
However, the protesters did not cause any damage to the lawmakers. They actually helped them move to a safer area, where they were later evacuated from the building.
“They knew who I was and even knew how I voted,” Mr Kosgei said.
“But they told me I was a good man and asked if they could escort me out of the building because what was going to happen might not be good for me.”
The parliamentary invaders even offered to arrange a taxi for him: “They asked me if I needed an Uber, but I showed them where I wanted to stay because I knew it wasn’t safe outside parliament. “
Ms Museo agreed, saying the protesters’ altruistic attitude came as a surprise.
They turned to the two MPs, who were now sitting in the private members’ lounge, and told them that they meant no harm and were only standing up for what they believed was right.
“They held my hands and told me, ‘Our problem was the financing law’ – not us,” Ms. Museo said.
She admitted it was still a “terrifying ordeal.”
“But they weren’t harmful at all, they were very kind to me. They said to me, ‘You are our mother and we can’t hurt you.'”
Kosgei thanked the protesters for “saving my life and that of Mrs. Museo when everyone ran away.”
“Even in moments of anger and stress, they still had humanity in them,” he said.
Millie Odhiambo, an MP known for her sharp words, told a local newspaper that she was convinced the protesters were merely using the disabled MPs as human shields against a possible attack by police officers.
However, Ms Museo said there were no police present at the time the protesters helped her.
She added that she did not blame her colleagues for fleeing, as everyone had rightly become fearful of the invasion.
The lawmakers, led by Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, were whisked away through the tunnel that connects the Senate and National Assembly debating chambers to a new wing where MPs’ officials are stationed.
The office portion of the building is known as the Bunge Towers and opened in April.
Police eventually managed to clear the protesters from the building amid clouds of tear gas and the sound of gunfire.
The MPs were hiding in bunkers in the basements of the Bunge Towers until an evacuation was organised.
To leave the complex, some lawmakers, including Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, were put into ambulances as protesters threw stones at lawmakers’ vehicles, local media reported.
Later that evening, President William Ruto called the invasion of parliament a “treacherous” act and an “existential threat”.
But given the scale of the protests – doctors say at least 23 people were killed on Tuesday – Ruto bowed to pressure and said the legislation would be withdrawn.
He said he would start a dialogue with Kenyan youth and work on austerity measures, starting with cuts to the presidency budget.
For Ms Museo, the traumatic events have been a learning curve for politicians and demonstrate the power of the people.
She urged parliamentary authorities to establish a proper evacuation system for MPs with disabilities. She also insisted that the president’s call for dialogue was taken seriously.
“The protesters are agitated, and rightly so, but their voices have been heard and they must now give dialogue a chance,” Ms Museo said.
“If they are not satisfied after the dialogue, they can go back to the streets.”
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