Kenya's Ruto withdraws finance bill after anti-tax protest deaths

Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday that a bill containing contentious tax hikes would "be withdrawn" following massive protests in which at least 20 people died. But protesters say they will keep up the pressure to have the bill scrapped.

Ruto 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"I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn," Ruto told a press briefing, adding: "The people have spoken."

"I will be proposing an engagement with the young people of our nation, our sons and daughters, for us to listen to them," he said, in a marked shift from his late-night address Tuesday when he likened some of the demonstrators to "criminals".

Ruto's administration has been taken by surprise by the intensity of opposition to its tax hikes, with protests breaking out across the country last week.

Investigation

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 state-funded 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.

These included a 16 percent value-added tax on bread and a 2.5 percent annual tax on private vehicles.

Ruto's cash-strapped government said the increases were needed to service the country's massive debt of some 10 trillion shillings (€78 billion), equal to roughly 70 percent of Kenya's GDP.

While Kenya is among East Africa's most dynamic economies, a third of its 52 million population live in poverty.

Protesters had earlier vowed to take to the streets again Thursday, calling for the bill to be scrapped entirely.

One of the leading figures in the anti-government protest movement, journalist and activist Hanifa Adan, called for Thursday's protest to be a "peaceful" march in memory of the victims.

But standing in front of the parliament's smashed gates, where a heavy police presence stood guard, Penina Njeri did not believe that would be possible.

After Tuesday's deaths, "it will feel more violent, because people are very angry, people are bitter," Njeri told French news agency AFP.

Ruto came to power in 2022 promising to champion the needs of impoverished Kenyans, but tax increases under his government have only made life tougher for those already struggling with high inflation.

(with AFP)