Kenya’s President William Ruto said he will not sign a finance bill that led protesters to storm parliament in anger over rising costs, adding that the bill containing tax hikes would “be withdrawn”.
“I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” Ruto said in a televised address on Wednesday. “The people have spoken.”
Ruto said he would now start a dialogue with Kenyan youth, without going into details, and work on austerity measures – starting with cuts to the budget of the presidency – to make up the difference in the country’s finances.
His comments came after dozens of people were reported killed and scores more wounded as police broke up rallies against the contentious bill.
The move will be seen as a major victory for the week-old protest movement that grew from online condemnations of tax increases into mass rallies, demanding a political overhaul, in the most serious crisis of Ruto’s two-year-old presidency.
Shortly before Ruto’s address, activists called for new protests in Kenya. They called on demonstrators to return “peacefully” to the streets to honour those killed.
“You cannot kill all of us. Tomorrow we march peacefully again as we wear white, for all our fallen people,” Hanifa Adan, a prominent organiser of the youth-led demonstrations, posted on X. “You will not be forgotten!!!”
All sovereign power belong to the people of Kenya. You cannot kill all of us. Tomorrow we march peacefully again as we wear white, for all our fallen people💔💔 You will not be forgotten !!! #RejectFinanceBill2024 pic.twitter.com/Mtj2QK7lON
— Hanifa 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 (@Honeyfarsafi) June 26, 2024
Mainly youth-led, the rallies began last week in a largely peaceful fashion as thousands protested against the proposed tax increases, which, in the original version, included price rises on basics such as bread and nappies.
However, tension spiked on Tuesday as parliament passed the bill. As police used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets on crowds in Nairobi, reports of live rounds being fired saw protesters storm parliament and set it alight. Ruto then deployed the military.
There is some confusion over the actual death toll. Unconfirmed reports quote the Kenya Medical Association as stating on Wednesday that at least 23 people were killed and another 30 were being treated for bullet wounds.
KENYA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: AT LEAST 23 PEOPLE KILLED, 30 OTHERS BEING TREATED FOR BULLET WOUNDS SUSTAINED DURING NATIONWIDE ANTI-TAX PROTESTS IN KENYA
— CGTN Africa (@cgtnafrica) June 26, 2024
“We have recorded 22 deaths … we are going to launch an inquiry,” said Roseline Odede, chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
The Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi said on Wednesday it was treating 160 people for injuries, including bullet wounds.
There were also claims on social media of multiple deaths in Githurai, a suburb east of Nairobi. Police later claimed that they fired more than 700 blank rounds in the area overnight in order to disperse protesters.
Looting was also reported in Nairobi and other counties. Buildings were set on fire in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, a stronghold of Ruto.
‘See you on Thursday’
Ruto, who came into power in 2022 pledging to reduce living costs, has said that the tax increases are necessary to cut reliance on foreign debt, which is currently equal to about 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
In televised comments late on Tuesday, the president pulled few punches. He suggested that portions of the crowds consisted of “criminals” and warned that the government would crack down on “violence and anarchy”.
The protesters say that they will continue to press the president to refuse to sign the financial bill, while analysts suggest that Ruto’s tough speech has raised tensions even further.
Generation Z has become even more enraged following the president’s words in which he “did not acknowledge” the issues they were raising nor the deaths at the hands of the authorities, Stella Agara, Africa governance and security analyst and tax reform campaigner, told Al Jazeera.
The president’s tough stance “cannot work when you are dealing with an aggrieved citizenry, with a population that is agitated about so many things. Then you add the fact that you want to muzzle their right to speak,” she added.
Reflecting the defiance among the population, demonstrators took to social media on Wednesday using the hashtag #tutanethursday, or “see you on Thursday” in a mix of Swahili and English.
They focused on Ruto’s claim that the protests were the work of “criminals pretending to be peaceful protesters”.
“Good morning fellow CRIMINALS Tupatane Thursday To do what CRIMINALS do,” one X user posted.
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