News
Kenya protests live: police fire on anti-tax demonstrations, protesters are killed | News
Stella Agara, a Kenyan tax justice activist, told Al Jazeera she is very disappointed that President William Ruto “didn’t listen to anyone” regarding the deeply unpopular finance law.
“I am concerned that the voice of Kenyans is no longer heard by the government,” she said, adding that her concerns also extend to the Bretton Woods institutions and the IMF, which have been putting pressure on the government.
The government is accustomed to “disrupting protests through the use of violence and force,” she said, but she did not expect the level of resistance from Gen Z protesters.
Agara added that the proposed taxes on digital tools will affect young people, especially content creators, who are part of the gig economy, a group for which the government has repeatedly promised to provide jobs.
When a group doesn’t have access to an income and you tax the niche they’ve created to support themselves, you’re going to have a knee-jerk reaction, she said.
Protesters disperse as Kenyan police spray water cannons at them during a protest on Tuesday [Brian Inganga/AP]