Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets of Nairobi and other Kenyan cities on Tuesday to demand the resignation of the country’s president, William Ruto, in one of the most intense days of protests since the assault on Parliament by a group of demonstrators on June 25. At least one person died in Tuesday’s demonstrations, Reuters reports, in which numerous clashes with the police occurred, bringing the death toll in the last month to 50, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
The protests began more than a month ago against a general increase in taxes and reached their climax on June 25, when demonstrators stormed and partially set fire to the Parliament building, where the bill had just been approved. The following day, Ruto cancelled the legislative initiative and promised to adopt austerity measures to deal with the economic crisis in the African country.
However, these measures did not appease thousands of citizens who continued to protest in the days that followed, leading Ruto to dismiss his entire government, except the foreign minister, last Thursday. “I will immediately engage in broad consultations among different sectors and political formations and other Kenyans, both publicly and privately, with the aim of establishing a broad-based government,” he said in an attempt to calm the worst protests since he took office two years ago. But he failed.
This Tuesday, under the slogan Tuesday of Total Closurethousands of Kenyans took to the streets again in at least 23 of the country’s 47 counties, only to be met with a violent police response. In Nairobi, but also in other cities, protesters responded to tear gas and bullets fired by law enforcement with stones. In Kitengela, on the outskirts of the capital, citizens burned tires while waving Kenyan flags and shouting “Ruto must go!”, according to Reuters, which says at least one citizen died after being seriously injured in the head.
In addition to the 50 people killed in a month of protests, 413 people have been injured, 682 have been arrested and 59 others are unaccounted for after allegedly being taken against their will by law enforcement. Ruto has promised to launch an investigation into police violence and last week accepted the resignation of the police chief. But protesters now want Ruto himself to step down and are calling for sweeping changes to tackle corruption and poor governance.
Kenya is in the midst of a debt crisis, spending a large part of its income on repaying loans taken out by international organisations and creditors. Meanwhile, its citizens are hit by rampant inflation. The tax hike that triggered the crisis affected basic products such as bread, oil and fuel, but also financial transactions. The demand now is for the resignation of Ruto, who came to power in August 2022 after winning a chaotic election against the opposition Raila Odinga by less than two percentage points.
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