Kikuyu Member of Parliament Kimani Ichungwa has defended National Assembly staff over the numerical technical hitch that was witnessed during Thursday's sitting.
A number of MPs have since questioned the house ICT team over the incident, where the house tally machine and gave an excess number of lawmakers, indicating that 352 out of the 349 members were in attendance.
Speaking on Radio Jambo Saturday morning, Ichungwa claimed that the same resulted from a programming shortcoming, noting that it behaved that way due to inbuilt settings.
"Hata tarakilishi inapowashwa huwa kuna vitu inaonyesha maana ndivyo ilivyotengenezwa. Ile mashine pia ni hivyo hivyo (352 is the number it shows once out on. That's the programmed number," he said.
The sitting was convened to consider President Uhuru Kenyatta's proposal of an extra 8 percent tax on petrol, a proposal that was won by Ichungwah's minority side despite facing opposition from most members.
Some of the lawmakers have since raised concerns over the tally, terming it one of the manipulation techniques used by the House Majority Leader Aden Duale and his team to push Uhuru's proposal past the heavy opposition.
The President on Friday morning signed the amendment into law, giving a nod for its immediate implementation which has as a result began.
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