The rallies, mainly led by young people, began peacefully last week. Thousands of demonstrators marched in Nairobi, the capital, and other cities across the country to protest new taxes planned in the 2024-2025 budget.
This Tuesday, June 25, while the population demonstrated for the third time in eight days, tension suddenly rose in the afternoon in Nairobi.
Demonstrators stormed Parliament, a first in the history of the country, independent since 1963.
This crisis in Kenya is multifactorial, according to researcher Christian Cirhigiri who looks at what led this country, relatively stable in East Africa, into the crisis in which it currently finds itself.
“The post-Covid 19 economic crisis has left the country in a difficult situation. There is also the fact that when the new government took power, several political and fiscal measures were put in place to try to compensate for the low income that the country had at that time. the researcher tells DW. “These include tax measures, the imposition of taxes on goods and services produced by Kenyan citizens. All these measures have made Kenyans feel that life is becoming more and more untenable.”
“The situation in Kenya reminds us of the fragile stability in our countries in Africa” (Toussaint Kafarhire)
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Toussaint Kafarhire, who lived for more than nine years in Kenya, where he taught international relations, believes that the Kenyan population has decided to demand their rights in the streets.
According to him, “the situation in Kenya can remind us that there has always been this fragile stability in our countries in Africa and that anything can happen at any time. It is this unpredictability of our policies in Africa which should question us both on the nature of our governments, our institutions, our structures and at the same time on the capacity for dialogue of our authorities, which we call representatives of the people.”
Mobilization on the internet
The protest movement against the taxes, called “Occupy Parliament”, was launched on social networks and largely affected young Kenyans from Generation Z, born in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
This mobilization illustrates a growing phenomenon where digital platforms play a central role in political activism, specifies the lawyer and researcher in digital law, Brozeck Kandolo.
“We see that the mobilization of Generation Z via social networks is creating a new transformation in Africa in the way in which citizens exercise their rights and participate in the political life of their country. This mobilization in Kenya today allows for broader and democratic participation, it gives voice to people who are often excluded from traditional decision-making processes”, he emphasizes.
Overwhelmed by this movement, the authorities had to backtrack. “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 my head and will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill into law, which will therefore be withdrawn,” William Ruto said in a speech this Wednesday afternoon.
