NAIROBI, Kenya
Kenyan activists called for protesters to take to the streets again on Tuesday, with many rejecting appeals from President William Ruto for dialogue following his decision to withdraw proposed tax hikes.
At least 24 people were killed
in clashes between protesters and police last week, when parliament was briefly
stormed and set ablaze.
The protests, which have been
led by young people and organised largely on social media, were initially
sparked by a finance bill intended to raise 346 billion Kenyan shillings ($2.69
billion) in taxes.
But the demands of many
protesters have escalated over the past two weeks to include calls to root out
corruption and for Ruto to step down, presenting the most serious crisis of his
two-year-old presidency.
An interview Ruto gave on
Sunday evening to Kenyan television networks, in which he mostly defended the
actions of the police and his government, seemed to have only hardened the
positions of protesters.
On Monday, activists were
sharing pamphlets on social media that urged people to occupy the capital
Nairobi's Central Business District. Many posted under the hashtag
#OccupyCBDTuesday.
The protest movement has no
official leadership, and it was not clear to what extent people would respond
to these calls after tens of thousands came out last week in some of the
country's largest protests in recent memory.
In audio forums on social
media, activists have been discussing how to maintain momentum now that the
immediate objective of killing the finance bill has been attained.
In his interview on Sunday,
Ruto reiterated his previous calls for dialogue with young people. He said he
was prepared to do this in a forum of their choosing, including the X Spaces
where they often gather to discuss issues and strategise.
Many protesters reject the calls for dialogue, seeing them as an effort to co-opt the movement.
"You can’t dialogue with
someone who is killing you on the other hand," one activist said during an
X Space over the weekend.
Ruto defended the conduct of
the police in his interview, saying they had done the best they could under the
circumstances and blaming "criminals" who he said had hijacked
peaceful protests.
Ruto also suggested in the
interview that the budget gap caused by the withdrawal of proposed tax hikes
would be funded by borrowing, seemingly contradicting earlier statement that
money would be saved through austerity measures.
Asked about this on Monday,
Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung'u noted that there are legal limits on borrowing
and the carrying capacity of debt.
"So it means that we must
have expenditure cuts. This will be known once Parliament approves
Supplementary one (budget)," he told Reuters in a text message.
Kenya's national debt of more
than 70% of gross domestic product already surpasses the statutory limit of 55%
of GDP.
After withdrawing the bill,
Ruto asked lawmakers to pass a supplementary budget, but parliament is
currently in recess.
($1 = 128.5000 Kenyan
shillings)
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