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Kenyan President surrenders to violent protesters saying he will not sign IMF-dictated tax-laden budget

Kenyan President William Ruto on Wednesday withdrew planned tax hikes, bowing to pressure from protesters who had stormed parliament, launched demonstrations across the country, and threatened more action this week.

This move marks a significant victory for a week-old, youth-led protest movement that began with online condemnations of tax increases and grew into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul, posing the most serious crisis of Ruto’s two-year-old presidency.

Despite Ruto’s climbdown, some demonstrators stated on social media that they would proceed with a rally planned for Thursday, reiterating their demands for his resignation.

Ruto announced he would not sign a finance bill that included the tax increases, a day after violent clashes between police and protesters at the assembly and nationwide, which left at least 23 people dead and scores wounded, according to medics.

“Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this finance bill 2024, I concede. And therefore, I will not sign the 2024 finance bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” he said in a televised address, with lawmakers clapping behind him.

Vice President Rigathi Gachagua asked young people to call off the protests to avoid further loss of life and destruction of property, blaming the intelligence services for giving the government poor advice. “There would have been no mayhem, but they slept on the job,” Gachagua said, calling on the head of the National Intelligence Service to resign.

Protesters remained defiant, calling for Ruto to step down and vowing further action. Boniface Mwangi, a prominent social justice activist involved in the protests, called for a “1-million-people march.” “The arrogance is gone, but the lies are still there,” he said on social media platform X. “Yesterday they unleashed goons and police to kill peaceful protesters. That will not stop us.”

Other members of the protest movement continued to post on social media using the hashtag #tupatanethursday, or “see you on Thursday” in a mix of Swahili and English.

Ruto announced he would now start a dialogue with Kenyan youth, without providing details, and work on austerity measures—beginning with cuts to the budget of the presidency—to make up the difference in the country’s finances. He said the loss of life on Tuesday was “very unfortunate.” Kenyan police have not responded to requests for comment about the violence.

Even if Ruto’s concession manages to stave off immediate unrest, it still leaves him caught between the competing demands of his hard-pressed citizens and lenders such as the IMF, which is urging the government to cut deficits to obtain more financing.

Kenya’s sovereign dollar bonds were trading largely flat despite Ruto’s rejection of the finance bill. Its bonds were trading between 74.6 and 95 cents on the dollar, according to Tradeweb data, with the longer-dated 2034 maturity at the lowest price.

On Tuesday, police opened fire on crowds who massed around parliament and later broke into the senate chamber and national assembly, minutes after lawmakers had voted through the tax measures and sent them to the president.

The Nation newspaper documented protests in at least 35 of Kenya’s 47 counties, from big cities to rural areas—including Ruto’s hometown of Eldoret in his ethnic Kalenjin heartland. At least 23 people were killed across the country, and another 30 were being treated for bullet wounds, the Kenya Medical Association said on Wednesday. Medical officials in Nairobi reported scores of injuries.

Posts on social media urged people to occupy State House, the president’s office and residence, on Thursday, and the local offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday. However, it was unclear if these calls came from individuals or a broader movement.

Heavily armed police patrolled the streets of the capital Nairobi, which were quieter than usual on Wednesday.

The protests began as an online outpouring of anger by young, tech-savvy Kenyans at proposed taxes on bread and diapers and evolved into a nationwide movement calling for the scrapping of the entire finance bill, including the taxes. Thousands took to the streets of Nairobi and several other cities during two days of protests last week as the online movement gathered momentum.

While the young Kenyans in the current demonstrations have no official leader and have urged political opposition figures to stay away, some of Ruto’s main rivals expressed delight at the president’s climbdown.

Written By

I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.

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