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NAIROBI. – Kenyan President William Ruto said yesterday that a bill containing contentious tax hikes would “be withdrawn”, dramatically reversing course after more than 20 people died and parliament was ransacked by protesters opposed to the legislation.
But he warned that the withdrawal of the finance bill would mean a significant shortfall in funding for development programmes designed to help farmers and schoolteachers, among others, as the East African nation struggles to lower its foreign debt burden.
“I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” Mr Ruto told a press briefing, adding: “The people have spoken.”
The largely peaceful rallies turned violent on Tuesday when lawmakers passed the legislation and police fired live rounds into crowds that ransacked the partly ablaze parliament complex.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said it had recorded 22 deaths and 300 injured victims, adding that they would launch an investigation.
Frustration over the rising cost of living spiralled last week as lawmakers began debating the bill containing the tax hikes.
Mr Ruto’s government said the increases were needed to service the country’s massive debt of some 10 trillion shillings (US$78 billion), equal to roughly 70 percent of Kenya’s GDP.
Mr Ruto termed Tuesday’s street protests “treasonous.” In his televised address to the nation Tuesday night, he said the government had mobilised all resources to ensure the situation does not occur again “at whatever cost.”
He directed security organs to use all means possible to thwart any threats to the national security.
“It is possible that the criminals who reigned terror on innocent people and challenged our security organs are likely to continue with this behaviour,” said Ruto, warning that the planners, financiers and abetters of the protests would not go “scot-free”.
The bill was amended to remove the proposed 16 percent VAT on bread, transportation of sugar, financial services, and foreign exchange transactions, as well as the 2.5 percent motor vehicle tax.
There will be no increase in mobile money transfer fees, and excise duty on vegetable oil has been removed. And levies on the housing fund and the proposed one on social health insurance will not attract income tax.
The legislators also imposed an eco-levy on imported items like smartphones and electronics, noting they end up as electronic waste damaging the environment.
The protesters, however, are adamant there are some hidden clauses in the Bill that would make life difficult for them.
The protesters gathered in various towns across the country, including the capital Nairobi, and the march soon turned violent.
In Nairobi, chanting anti-government slogans despite police firing live bullets in the air, the protesters breached the heavily guarded premises at about 3:00 p.m., local time, and entered Kenya’s parliament compound, destroying property and setting fire to a section of the building.
Mr Ruto, who won the elections in August 2022 on a platform of helping the poor, has been under pressure to raise additional revenues amid rising government debt repayments.
Besides the parliament, protesters in Nairobi on Tuesday also raided the City County Government, vandalizing property and setting ablaze some offices.
The protests in the capital brought business to a standstill, with all the shops in the central business district remaining shut.
Public transport was disrupted across Nairobi, and many operators of commuter buses grounded their vehicles, leaving office workers stranded, with many of them opting to walk for kilometres away from the central business district to try and get vehicles home.
In Nyeri, the protesters, besides marching on the streets and chanting anti-tax slogans, stormed a retail outlet looting goods.
A similar incident was reported in Eldoret, the president’s political bedrock, where hundreds of protesters took to the streets, demanding the government withdraw the new taxation measures. Similar scenes were witnessed in several other towns.
Mr Ruto said in his TV address that the government would not tolerate crime masked as democratic expression. “The government will secure the nation and any threats to national security are a danger to the Republic and will be dealt with,” he said.
The president stressed that the national conversation on what affects the nation would only be done under the rule of law, constitutionalism, and respect for the nation.
The Kenya Defence Forces were deployed Tuesday in support of the National Police Service in response to the security emergency caused by the ongoing protests across the country, said Aden Duale, the cabinet secretary for defence.
In a statement on Tuesday, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta appealed for calm and dialogue, noting that he is saddened by the loss of lives occasioned by the protests.
Kenyatta asked elected leaders to listen to the people’s grievances, calling for calm and for the leadership “to show restraint and do the right thing by listening to the people and not be antagonistic to them.” – AFP-Xinhua
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