- Kenyan protesters took to the streets again today, demanding President William Ruto’s resignation despite his decision not to enact the budget bill
NAIROBI,Kenya – The total death toll from last week’s violence in Kenya, sparked by opposition to the budget law approved by parliament but not ratified by President William Ruto, has risen to 39. The Kenya National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR), funded by the government of Nairobi, announced that 17 people were killed in the capital, Nairobi, where the bloodiest protests occurred, while another 22 protesters died in other parts of the country. Additionally, 361 people were injured, 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances” were reported, and 627 arrests were made. Amnesty International reported 24 protesters killed in the unrest. Previously, police had set the death toll at 19. The KNCHR condemned “in the strongest possible terms the unjustified violence and force inflicted on protesters, medical personnel, lawyers, journalists, and safe spaces such as churches, medical emergency centres, and ambulances,” stating that the force used against protesters “was excessive and disproportionate.”
Kenyan protesters took to the streets again today to demand the resignation of President William Ruto, despite his decision not to promulgate the budget law whose approval by parliament had sparked violent protests that had left more than 20 people dead. According to local press reports, police in riot gear fired tear gas at demonstrators in Nairobi after demonstrators set fires on Waiyaki Way, the main road through the center of the capital, and threw stones at the police in the central business district. Protests were also recorded in other cities in the country, with hundreds of demonstrators marching in Mombasa, Kenya’s second city, waving palm leaves, blowing into plastic horns, beating drums and chanting the slogan “Ruto must go!”. Other protests took place in Kisumu, Nakuru, Kajiado, Migori, Mlolongo and Rongo, according to images broadcast on Kenyan television. In the southwestern town of Migori, demonstrators set fire to tires.
Ruto, who is facing the most serious crisis of his presidency, which began almost two years ago, has found himself crushed between the requests of creditors such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who are asking to cut the deficit, and a population in difficulty due to the dramatic increase in the cost of living. Members of the protest movement, which has no official leaders and organizes largely through social media, have rejected the president’s calls for dialogue, even after he announced the withdrawal of tax increase proposals contained in the finance bill and which had triggered the demonstrations. Speaking during a roundtable with journalists on Sunday evening, Ruto attributed Kenyans’ strong resistance to the 2024 budget bill to a lack of adequate communication, accusing his communications team of failing to provide adequate information on some of the new tax measures introduced in the bill and noting that, if he had been given the opportunity to explain the content of the measure and its impact on the country’s economy, every Kenyan citizen would have agreed with him. “We didn’t explain ourselves well, I’m sure my communications team failed and our communications architecture didn’t work. The message has not reached the people,” said the head of state, admitting that the withdrawal of the law represents a serious blow for the government, as many programs and services will be affected. Counties, for example, will have to cut 30 billion shillings (over $232 million) from their budget and the electoral development fund will be reduced by 10 billion shillings (about $77,5 million). “It means we have to rethink what to do with lower secondary teachers and suspend the hiring of another 20 teachers this financial year,” he added.
The bill, Ruto continued, contained provisions that would block the import of potatoes, onions or eggs from Europe. “It is said that we should grow our industries, we should produce diapers in Kenya and we have 10 companies doing that,” the president said. “We should expand our production capacity, that’s what the finance bill was about,” he added, but said he was optimistic that a result could be achieved once discussions began in multi-sectoral forums. Last Wednesday, when he announced the withdrawal of the bill, the head of state proposed that a multi-sectoral discussion would be held within the next 14 days to chart the way forward on issues relating to its content. The discussion, he added, will also include the auxiliary issues raised in recent days on the need for austerity measures and strengthening the fight against corruption. The withdrawal of the bill followed widespread protests across the country that left more than 20 people dead. The government’s efforts to remove some of the controversial new tax provisions on the bill have fallen on deaf ears as protesters insisted on rejecting it in its entirety. Some of the proposals that were eliminated are the 16 percent VAT on bread, the excise tax on vegetable oil, the VAT on the transportation of sugar, the 2,5 percent motor vehicle tax and the eco-friendly on locally manufactured products. The government also eliminated increased mobile money transfers and VAT on financial services and foreign exchange transactions.
