Kenya tax protests: President urged to reconsider finance bill

Ex-Nairobi governor advises Ruto to reconsider signing bill

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has advised President Ruto to reconsider signing the finance bill, the Kenyan Star news website reported.

“If your heart is with the people of Kenya, Your Excellency send the Finance bill back to the sender,” Sonko said in a statement on social media.

“The sons of prominent people including my son in Kwale County, and Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit’s son, among others, joined the demos. This should tell you that it is not business as usual,” the report quoted him as saying.

Police fire blanks in Nairobi suburb

Kenyan police say they fired more than 700 blank rounds to disperse protesters in the Nairobi suburb of Githurai overnight and on Wednesday morning.

Local media have also been reporting gunfire.

How Kenya’s finance bill protests turned deadly

Kenya tax protests turn deadly with parliament storming, police gunfire

Activist Oguda found after alleged abduction

Kenya’s Star media outlet is reporting that activist Gabriel Oguda, an activist and columnist, has been found after an alleged abduction.

In a video seen by the Star, Oguda was found at the Kajiado Police Station but is yet to be released.
Human rights groups said 21 people were abducted or have disappeared since Monday.

Many are prominent social media activists and commentators, including:

Kevin Monari, also known as Osama Otero, is a social media influencer who has hosted spaces on the finance bill on the social media website X. He was also taken in the early hours of Tuesday.

John Frank Ngemi, a blockchain developer, was taken on Monday afternoon, according to a statement released by Web3/Blockchain Communities of Kenya. The statement said that “four armed individuals abducted” Ngemi from the Beast Athletics offices in Kahawa Sukari. “This incident underscores the growing threats innovators and pioneers face in the tech industry,” it added.

Generation Z more enraged following president’s address

Stella Agara, Africa governance and security analyst and tax reform campaigner, says Generation Z has become even more enraged following President Ruto’s speech on Tuesday, in which he “did not acknowledge some of the issues they were bringing up”.

“Neither did they acknowledge the fact that there were people who died in the protests … dying as a result of brutal force from the police towards people who did not even attempt to attack the police,” Agara told Al Jazeera.
Ruto said in his televised address that the government will use all means at its disposal, at whatever cost, to address the crackdown. Agara says taking this direction does not make sense politically or logically.

“This cannot work when you are dealing with an aggrieved citizenry, with a population that is agitated about so many things. Then you add the fact that you want to muzzle their right to speak,” she said.

What the protesters are saying

Ronnie Baron: “It’s the people against the government.”
Mitchell Mwamodo: “Our leaders are saying they are going to sit down with the youth. And talk to us. But we don’t have a leader. I am not trying to have a conversation. We are not ready to back down.”

Mary Ngigi: “They are just trying to find out which hand to shake and which hand to cut off. But we don’t even have any leaders.”

Derick Kolito: “Our parents failed us. They voted along tribal lines. I am the son of peasants. You must have a godfather to get a job … I wish I was born in another country.”

Kenya shocked as protests over finance bill turn deadly in Nairobi

Kenya is in a state of shock following unprecedented scenes that left parts of Parliament ablaze as protests over a finance bill recommending tax hikes turned deadly, prompting President William Ruto’s government to deploy the military.

Credit: Aljazeera