Kenya president withdraws finance bill after at least 23 killed in nationwide protests

Nairobi — Kenya President William Ruto on Wednesday declined to sign a highly contentious finance bill that has sparked nationwide deadly protests, and has sent it back to parliament for amendments, Kenya’s Star newspaper and KTN News reported.

Police opened fire on crowds who massed around parliament on Tuesday and later broke into parliament buildings, minutes after legislators had voted through tax hikes seeking to raise an additional $2.7bn.

Kenyan protesters vowed on Wednesday to keep up their demonstrations against new tax hikes, a day after violent clashes outside parliament and across the country left at least 23 people dead and scores wounded.

The Star newspaper reported it had been informed by sources in Ruto’s office the president had proposed a raft of amendments which MPs would have to consider. Ruto, who is facing the most serious crisis since coming to power almost two years ago, will address the nation

As heavily armed police patrolled the streets of the capital, Nairobi, supporters of the week-old protest movement took to X, using the hashtag #tutanethursday, or “see you on Thursday” in a mix of Swahili and English.

An online outpouring of anger over tax increases has turned into a nationwide protest movement calling for a political overhaul, in the most serious crisis of President William Ruto’s two-year-old presidency.

The Nation newspaper documented protests in at least 35 of Kenya’s 47 counties, from big cities to rural areas — even in Ruto’s hometown of Eldoret in his ethnic Kalenjin heartland.

At least 23 people were killed across Kenya and another 30 were being treated for bullet wounds, the Kenya Medical Association said.

In the capital, the main public mortuary received the bodies of six people killed in the protests, a police officer posted there said. Another two bodies and 160 people with injuries came into the Kenyatta National Hospital, two health officials said.

Many social media users focused on Ruto’s speech after the clashes, in which he said the attack on parliament was the work of “criminals pretending to be peaceful protesters”.

“Good morning fellow CRIMINALS Tupatane Thursday To do what CRIMINALS do,” one X user posted.

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 IMF on Friday, though it was not immediately clear if the calls came from individuals or a broader movement.

Ruto said in his televised address to the nation late on Tuesday that the debate about the tax measures had been “hijacked by dangerous people”.

The government ordered the army deployed to help the police deal with a “security emergency”, though there were no reports of troops on the streets of Nairobi on Wednesday.

Protester Wellington Ogolla said he would head back to the streets. “It’s our right to demonstrate ... We are just expressing ourselves,” he said as he walked through downtown Nairobi, where the smell of teargas lingered in the air.

Legislators removed some tax hikes from the final version of the finance bill, including ones on bread and cooking oil, but inserted others in an effort to avoid a budget gap.

Protesters — who have no formal leadership and are primarily organised on social media platforms — said they want the entire bill scrapped, and many are now demanding that Ruto resign.

The president won the election almost two years ago on a platform of championing Kenya’s working poor, but has been caught between the competing demands of lenders such as the IMF — which is urging the government to cut deficits to obtain more financing — and a hard-pressed population.

Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said its staff were left hurt and traumatised when stones were thrown at one of its ambulances during the unrest. The Kenya Red Cross also said its staff and vehicles were attacked, without going into further detail.

Reuters