Kenya’s Ruto says finance bill will be withdrawn after deadly protests | Protest news

Kenyan President William Ruto has said he will not sign a finance bill that saw protesters storm Parliament, furious at rising costs, adding that the bill containing tax increases “would be withdrawn”.

“I admit and therefore will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill and it will subsequently be withdrawn,” Ruto said in a statement. televised speech on wednesday. “The people have spoken.”

Ruto said he would now begin a dialogue with young Kenyans, without going into detail, and work on austerity measures – starting with cuts to the presidency’s budget – to make up the difference in the country’s finances.

His comments came after dozens of people were killed and many others injured, as police dispersed demonstrations against the controversial bill.

The move will be seen as a major victory for the week-long protest movement that has gone from online condemnations of proposed tax rises to mass demonstrations demanding a political overhaul, in the most serious crisis of Ruto’s two-year presidency.

Shortly before Ruto’s speech, activists called for new protests in Kenya. They asked protesters to “peacefully” return to the streets to honor the dead.

“You can’t kill us all. Tomorrow we will march peacefully again as we dress in white, for all our fallen,” Hanifa Adan, a prominent organizer of the youth-led demonstrations, posted on X. “You will not be forgotten!!!”

Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from Nairobi, said some of the protest organizers, as well as others, viewed Ruto’s speech “with a lot of skepticism”.

“Many say they will still take to the streets on Thursday as planned. Clearly there is still a lot of mistrust,” Webb said.

“We just spoke to one of Kenya’s leading lawyers, he represents a political opposition, and he explained that Ruto’s speech… communicates his position on the bill, but constitutionally, it means nothing,” he said.

For the president to reverse this process, he would have to “communicate a memorandum to parliament to officially reject the bill”, said Webb, adding that people are waiting to assess Ruto’s next steps.

‘Start an inquiry’

Led mainly by young people, the protests began last week largely peacefully, with thousands of people protesting proposed tax increases, which in the original version included price hikes on basic goods such as bread and diapers.

However, tensions rose on Tuesday when Kenya’s Parliament passed the bill. As police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets against crowds in Nairobi, reports of live shots were fired, causing protesters to storm Parliament and set it on fire. Ruto then mobilized the military.

There is some confusion about the real death toll. Unconfirmed reports cite the Kenya Medical Association as saying on Wednesday that at least 23 people were killed and another 30 were being treated for gunshot wounds.

“We have registered 22 deaths… we will open an inquiry,” said Roseline Odede, president of Kenya’s National Human Rights Commission.

Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi said on Wednesday it was treating 160 people injured, including gunshot wounds.

There were also complaints on social media about multiple deaths in Githurai, a suburb east of Nairobi. Police later said they fired more than 700 blank rounds in the area overnight 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.

Stella Agara, an analyst and tax reform advocate, said Ruto’s decision was “an extreme relief”.

“It’s a relief that he went back on some of the things he said in yesterday’s speech, because it made citizens angrier,” Agara told Al Jazeera.

“I’m glad he refused to sign the bill… which of course leaves a little room for negotiation,” she said.

Negotiations could lead to the cancellation of protests planned for Thursday, Agara said, or even the president’s development of an entirely new bill.

“Most of the backlash I’ve seen has to do with the language he used, him still referring to the amendments when Gen Z talks about abandoning this financial law altogether,” she noted.

One of the things Ruto might do in the future, Agara said, is to “move away from this bill completely and talk to politicians about how financial bills will be developed in the future”.

Ruto, who came to power in 2022 promising to reduce the cost of living, had previously said tax increases were necessary to reduce dependence on external debt, which currently amounts to around 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

It is unclear what Ruto’s next move will be or whether protesters will cancel demonstrations planned for Thursday. [@AJLabs/Al Jazeera]


Fuente