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Kenya protests: President Ruto withdraws controversial finance bill after deadly protests
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Kenyan President William Ruto said on Wednesday he will not sign a controversial finance bill, backtracking in the face of mass protests that have swept the country and reportedly left at least 23 people dead.
“Having reflected on the ongoing conversation on the content of the Finance Bill 2024, and having listened carefully to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede and therefore will not sign the Finance Bill 2024,” Ruto said during a televised address on Wednesday.
“The people have spoken,” Ruto said. “Following the passage of the bill, the country experienced a widespread expression of dissatisfaction with the passed bill, regrettably resulting in loss of life, destruction of property and desecration of constitutional institutions.”
Protesters in Kenya say they will go ahead with a “Million People March” on Thursday, despite Ruto accepting their main demand to repeal the law. A widely shared poster on social media calls on all generations to return to the streets across the country on Thursday and block the roads leading to the capital, Nairobi.
Some protesters also called for the occupation of the State House in Nairobi.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to Ruto since the clashes to urge restraint. According to the State Department’s reading of the appeal, Blinken “stressed the importance of law enforcement demonstrating restraint and abstention from violence and encouraged prompt investigations into allegations of human rights abuses.”
Kenya, a nation often praised for its stability, has seen an escalation of protests against the law, which the government introduced to control public debt.
Last week, the government scrapped some tax increases, including a proposed 16% value-added tax on bread, along with taxes on motor vehicles, vegetable oil and mobile money transfers. But the concessions were not enough to quell the protests amid the increase in cost of living.
On Tuesday, they turned deadly when security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesters.
Dramatic scenes in the country’s capital, Nairobi, saw government buildings torched and a ceremonial mace stolen from parliament in the confusion. Kenyan lawmakers were evacuated from parliament as police attacked protesters, CNN affiliate NTV Kenya reported.
Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images
Ruto’s remarks come a day after deadly protests in Kenya.
At least 23 people died in the violence, according to the Kenya Police Reform Working Group (PRWG), a civil society organization.
The PRWG alleged, in a statement published by Amnesty International in Kenya, that police targeted young, unarmed protesters outside parliament, with the violence continuing into the night. They added that “reports show that police shot several people in Githurai, Nairobi, one of them more than 40 times – between 10pm and 1am, well after the protest ended.”
This contrasts with the details provided by Ruto, who said in his speech that six people had died.
“I send my condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones in this unfortunate way,” Ruto added.
“It is necessary for us as a nation to move from here to the future,” Ruto said, adding that he would maintain a commitment to the youth at the forefront of the protests to listen to their ideas and proposals.
The Law Society of Kenya is calling for the dismissal of the Kenya Police inspector-general and the Nairobi regional commander over officers who allegedly shot at protesters.
“We saw plainclothes police shooting at protesters as early as 11am. There was a clear directive to kill protesters,” alleged Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo in an interview with CNN on Wednesday night. “There was no intention to allow protesters to move.”
The Law Society also said police had “kidnapped” several prominent social media users linked to the protests and that six people remained missing.
“The accounts of those who were released are that they were taken blindfolded and handcuffed, and they didn’t know where they were,” she told CNN, after the society secured the release of six people. “Even after they leave, most of them are quite shaken and scared and want to hide. Our message to the government is that if a country is built on fear, one day people will stop fearing. And that’s what we saw on Tuesday.”
Ruto’s change of heart came as a surprise to some who had observed his hardline stance just a day earlier.
During a national address following the parliament fire, Ruto said Tuesday’s events constituted a serious threat to “national security” and that the conversation around the bill had been “hijacked by dangerous people”.
Kenyan analyst Herman Manyora said withdrawing the bill much earlier could have saved the lives lost on Tuesday.
“His announcement should have come earlier. He did today what he should have done two days ago to avoid what we went through yesterday. It pains me that we have to wait… for us to do what we should have done on Monday… and that is a general feeling among people,” Manyora told CNN.
CNN’s Catherine Nicholls contributed to this report.