Nairobi Women Representative Esther Passaris has responded to claims that she is doing President William Ruto’s bidding through the newly proposed bill to restrict demonstrations.
Passaris defended her decision to front the Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which aims to limit public demonstrations from accessing key government institutions.
Explaining to a heckling crowd at the event organized by the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), the Nairobi women representative noted that she came up with the bill in October 2024, after the Finance Bill protesters spilled into the Parliament building, setting a section on fire.
She further insisted that President William Ruto became aware of the Bill through online platforms, as most people did.
"William Samoei Ruto, when I brought this bill, which is a private member’s bill, he didn’t even know. He read about it online himself," she insisted.
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"I started that bill on October 18, 2024. That’s after Gen Z stormed Parliament. They broke things, huh? People's lives were threatened. Some people died and others lost their lives," she stated.
Passaris further criticized the youth-led protests, highlighting the chaos and violence witnessed in them, unlike her own party’s demonstrations, which she termed peaceful.
“When we had an issue with IEBC, we did not storm the IEBC offices; we gathered at Uhuru Park as ODM and aired our grievances through a formal letter.”
The contentious Bill, similar to the Assembly and Demonstrations Bill of 2024, aims to control the manner in which citizens picket and exercise their right to demonstrate as protected by Article 37 of the Kenyan Constitution.
The proposal has caused an uproar. It aims to revise the Public Order Act by changing the definitions of public meetings and processions and introducing designated picketing zones.
