The president of Kenya, William Ruto, announced this Wednesday the withdrawal of the finance bill that included a significant tax increase and whose parliamentary approval caused serious protests in Nairobi the previous day. The mobilizations resulted in 23 deaths from gunshot wounds, according to medical sources, and the assault on Parliament, which was set on fire and partially burned. “Having listened carefully to the people of Kenya, who have said very clearly that they want nothing to do with this bill, I have decided to relent. Therefore, I am not going to sign said bill and it will subsequently be withdrawn,” Ruto declared in a televised speech.
The Kenyan president has decided to stage his change of position surrounded by the deputies of the government majority who on Tuesday had voted in favor of the law to show, as he recalled, that it is a decision shared with them. “I manage a Government, but I also lead a people and those people have spoken (…) Following the approval of the bill, the country experienced widespread expressions of discontent with the way it was approved, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of lives, the destruction of property and the desecration of constitutional institutions,” he lamented.
Kenya woke up this Wednesday in shock by the police repression that caused the high death toll, as well as by the violence of the protests, which reached their climax on Tuesday, when tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets of Nairobi to complain about the approval of the law and hundreds of them stormed Parliament. The Working Group for Police Reforms, which brings together thirty associations, including Amnesty International, offers the same number of deaths, 23, and assures that there are also 300 injured, 50 detained and 22 people supposedly kidnapped by the forces themselves. of the order.
In the first hours, the Government reacted firmly and ordered the deployment of the army to help the police maintain order. On Tuesday night, Ruto assured that he was not going to allow “chaos and anarchy” and even went so far as to call the protesters “traitors”, whom he accused of having provoked “an unprecedented attack against democracy, the rule of law and the integrity of its constitutional institutions.” This Wednesday, his tone had completely changed and he sent a message of condolences to the families of the victims who died during the protests.
In his speech to the nation this Wednesday, Ruto also recounted the achievements of the Executive in lowering the prices of certain products, reducing external debt and strengthening the currency, and recalled that the tax increase provided for in the law of finance aimed to improve agriculture, public health and education. “Given that we have put this law aside, it is necessary that we have a conversation as a nation moving forward about how we are going to together manage the affairs of the country, the debt, the budget and its deficit,” he added in a solemn tone. Ruto has promised meetings with young people to listen to his proposals and has announced austerity measures for his Government, “starting with the Presidency.”
The controversial finance law, now withdrawn, reached Parliament in early May and included a general tax increase. Among the most questioned was the 5% increase in the rates on bank transfers and payments via mobile phone, a 16% increase in the tax on bread and 25% on vegetable oil, an additional charge of 2, 75% for employees enrolled in the national health insurance plan and an annual tax of 2.5% for motor vehicles. Likewise, it gave carte blanche to the Government to intervene in bank and mobile money accounts to force the payment of said taxes.
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Growing popular discontent with these measures has transformed into widespread protests since last week. On Tuesday the 18th, given their magnitude, Parliament withdrew the increase in taxes on bread, oil, vehicles and financial transactions, including mobile money payments, and reduced rates on health and insurance insurance. housing for employees. Despite this, both the opposition and protesters continued to demand the complete withdrawal of the measure in a spiral of protests that ended this Tuesday with the assault on Parliament and the violent police response, which included the use of live ammunition.
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