Kenya: President withdraws budget bill that sparked deadly protests

Kenyan President William Ruto announced on Wednesday the withdrawal of the 2024-25 draft budget providing for tax increases, at the origin of a powerful protest in the country which descended into deadly violence on Tuesday.

The head of state called for a national consultation with youth, in a speech the day after a third day of mobilization in eight days against this text, which left 22 dead according to the official body for the protection of human rights (KNHRC).

“The people have spoken (…) Having listened carefully to the people of Kenya, who have said loud and clear that they want nothing to do with this 2024 Finance Bill, I bow down and will not sign into law not the Finance Bill 2024, which will therefore be withdrawn,” William Ruto said.

This announcement was welcomed by the United States, where the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken welcomed measures aimed at “reducing tensions” in an interview with William Ruto.

“A communications operation”

“A communications operation”, however, reacted on X one of the figures of the protest in Kenya, Hanifa Adan. “The bill is withdrawn but are you going to restore life to all those who died??”, also wrote this journalist and activist, who had earlier in the day called for a “peaceful” white march in memory victims Thursday. “Do not forget. Don’t forgive,” she added.

Nelly, 26, told AFP she would go to the march on Thursday. “We will march tomorrow for a better future in Kenya,” she said.

The right to demonstrate “must be respected” by the Kenyan authorities, a White House spokesperson said on Wednesday. The spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, for his part, called for responsibilities to be “clearly” established after the deaths of demonstrators.

In Nairobi, the announcement of the vote on the text on Tuesday by Parliament, where the presidential party Kenya Kwanza is in the majority, triggered the anger of demonstrators gathered nearby.

Parliament stormed

The crowd stormed the complex housing the National Assembly and the Senate, ransacking and setting fire to certain buildings, in an attack unprecedented in the history of the independent country since 1963. According to several NGOs, the police fired live ammunition at the crowd.

Nairobi and several towns were also the scene of looting. Buildings were burned in Eldoret, in the Rift Valley, stronghold of President William Ruto.

The scenes of chaos had alarmed the United States and more than a dozen European countries on Tuesday, as well as the UN and the African Union, which declared themselves “deeply concerned” and called for calm.

The opposition coalition Azimio had called on the president on Wednesday not to promulgate the text, the day after a day that will remain marked with infamy,” repeating in a press release the words of President Roosevelt after Pearl Harbor.

“Since we have gotten rid of the 2024 Finance Bill, there is a need to have a conversation as a nation going forward. (…) How can we manage our debt situation together? (…) I will propose an engagement with the young people of our nation, our sons and our daughters,” announced William Ruto.

Room for maneuver

For the government, these fiscal measures were necessary to restore room for maneuver to the country, heavily indebted (public debt represents around 70% of GDP), and finance its ambitious 2024-25 budget counting on 4,000 billion shillings (28 billion francs) in spending, a record.

But he was taken by surprise by the scale taken by this protest called “Occupy Parliament”, born on social networks after the presentation of the budget to Parliament on June 13 and which found a powerful echo within “Generation Z” (young people born after 1997).

The government announced on June 18, after an initial demonstration in Nairobi, that it was abandoning most of the planned tax measures, including a 16% VAT on bread and an annual tax of 2.5% on motor vehicles.

The demonstrators denounced a sleight of hand consisting of compensating for the withdrawal of these measures by others, in particular a 50% increase in fuel taxes. The mobilizations, which took an anti-government tone with cries of “Ruto must go”, spread across the country.

The draft budget catalyzed latent discontent against President Ruto, elected in August 2022 by promising to defend the most modest but who then increased the tax pressure on the population. Last year, the government had already increased income tax and health contributions and doubled VAT on gasoline.

The government now faces the challenge of finding alternative sources of revenue.

“Latest news”

Want to stay on top of the news? “24 Heures” offers you two appointments per day, directly in your email box. So you don’t miss anything that’s happening in your Canton, in Switzerland or around the world.

Other newsletters

To log in

AFP

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.