Kenya’s Ruto Says Finance Bill To Be Withdrawn After Anti-Tax Protest Deaths

Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday that a bill containing huge tax hikes would “be withdrawn”, dramatically reversing course after more than 20 people died and parliament was ransacked by protesters opposed to the legislation.

But he warned that the withdrawal of the finance bill would mean a significant shortfall in funding for development programmes curated to help farmers and schoolteachers, among others, as the East African nation struggles to lower its foreign debt burden.

“I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” Ruto said, adding: “The people have spoken.”

Ruto’s administration has been taken by surprise by the intensity of opposition to its tax hikes, with protests breaking out across the country last week.

The largely peaceful rallies turned violent on Tuesday when lawmakers passed the legislation and police fired live rounds into crowds that ransacked the partly ablaze parliament complex.

The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said it had recorded 22 deaths and 300 injured victims, adding that they would launch an investigation.