Kenyan President William Ruto announced on Wednesday morning that he would back down from signing a proposed tax hike bill that prompted a series of TikTok-fueled riots that left at least 13 dead and dozens injured.
Ruto, who was elected in 2022 after successfully running as an anti-China candidate seeking to reduce the communist nation’s growing influence on Kenya, was slated to sign a finance bill into law that included tax increases targeting a wide array of goods and services, ranging from bread to car insurance. Ruto previously asserted that the tax hikes were necessary to balance the budget of the economically struggling nation.
Opponents of the bill communicated on the Chinese TikTok social media platform to organize protests and riots against the Kenyan government. The protests escalated on Tuesday as local lawmakers voted to pass the bill; protesters stormed the premises of the Kenyan Parliament, and there were reports of police responding by firing live ammunition.
Tuesday’s reports indicated that the riots left at least five dead and at least 45 injured, including Auma Obama, former U.S. President Barack Obama’s 64-year-old sister.
Ruto — who, on Tuesday, claimed that the protesters had been infiltrated by “criminals” and “hijacked by dangerous people” — addressed his nation on Wednesday morning, announcing that he would “concede” to the protesters’ demands and would thus not sign the finance bill into law.
“Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede,” Ruto said. “And, therefore, I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill, and it shall, subsequently, be withdrawn. The people have spoken.”
Press Briefing, State House, Nairobi. https://t.co/BYWljpfcGT
— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) June 26, 2024
The Kenyan president sent messages of condolences “to the families of those who lost their loved ones in this very unfortunate manner” and added that there is a need “for us, as a nation, to pick up from here and go into the future.”
Ruto stated that he would hold an engagement event with the people at the forefront of the protests to “hear their ideas and proposals.”
Government sources reportedly told the Nairobi-based newspaper the Star on Wednesday morning that the bill would be sent back to the Kenyan Parliament before members go on a scheduled break on Wednesday. Ruto reportedly proposed a new round of amendments to the bill in addition to changes made to the bill before its passing on Tuesday.
The chaos in the Kenyan capital unfurled as Ruto’s government deployed 200 of its police officers across the Atlantic Ocean to Haiti. The officers arrived in Haiti on Tuesday as part of a United Nations-backed security mission that seeks to combat out-of-control gang violence in the Caribbean nation. Before Ruto’s Wednesday morning announcement, Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale reportedly authorized the deployment of the military in Nairobi on Tuesday evening to provide support to the Kenyan National Police forces’ efforts to curb the violent protests.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
