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Kenya’s president on Tuesday called the storming of parliament a threat to national security and vowed that such unrest would not happen again, “at any cost.”
“It is deeply painful for Kenya that such a crucial conversation was hijacked by dangerous people who caused us the kind of loss we have suffered as a nation today,” William Ruto said in a national address.
In the most direct attack on the government in decades, protesters overwhelmed and chased away police in an attempt to storm the parliament building. Kenyan news channel Citizen TV reported that protesters had managed to enter the Senate chamber.
Parts of the parliament building were set on fire as lawmakers inside passed a law to raise taxes, and police opened fire after tear gas and water cannon failed to disperse the crowds. A Reuters journalist counted the bodies of at least five protesters outside parliament.
The Kenyan military has been deployed to support police in managing the “security emergency” that has resulted in the “destruction and breach of critical infrastructure”, Defense Minister Aden Duale said in the official gazette on Tuesday.
“It is possible that the criminals who committed terror on innocent people are still determined to continue their dangerous behavior,” Ruto said.
Kenyan President William Ruto says he believes law-abiding citizens were right to demonstrate against a government tax hike when organized criminals infiltrated their ranks and incited crowds to violence. He thanked the police for defending the people of Kenya from the “treacherous events” of that day.
“I assure the nation of the government’s determination to fulfill its constitutional duty to protect the people of Kenya from all forms of harm.”
The Kenya Medical Association said in a statement that at least five people had been shot dead while treating the wounded. 31 people were injured, 13 with live bullets and four with rubber bullets.
The association called on authorities to establish safe medical corridors to protect medical staff and ambulances.
Police eventually managed to clear the protesters from the building amid clouds of tear gas and the sound of gunfire. Lawmakers were evacuated through underground tunnels, local media reported. In Washington, the White House said the United States was closely monitoring the situation in Nairobi and was urging calm.
The fighting spread across several cities
Ambassadors and high commissioners from countries including Britain, the US and Germany said in a joint statement that they were deeply concerned about the violence they had witnessed during recent anti-tax protests and called for restraint on all sides.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also urged restraint from police and security forces and called on protesters to be peaceful, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says Kenyans protesting against a government tax increase should act peacefully, but that police there should also recognize the people’s right to demonstrate. He says the deaths of protesters must be fully investigated and those responsible held accountable.
“It is very important that people’s rights to demonstrate peacefully are respected,” Dujarric said in a media briefing.
Kenyan activist Auma Obama, the half-sister of former US President Barack Obama, was among the protesters tear-gassed during the demonstrations, a CNN interview revealed.
Internet services in the East African country suffered serious disruptions during the police crackdown, according to internet monitor Netblocks. Kenya’s largest network operator Safaricom said the outages had affected two of its submarine cables, but the root cause of the disruptions remained unclear.
Protests and clashes also took place in several other cities and towns in Kenya, with many calling on President Ruto to leave office and voicing their opposition to the tax increases.
Parliament approved the financing bill and moved it to a third reading by lawmakers. The next step is for the legislation to be sent to the president for his signature. If he has any objections to it, he can send it back to parliament.
Ruto won the elections almost two years ago with the aim of standing up for the working poor in Kenya. However, he now finds himself caught between the demands of lenders such as the International Monetary Fund, which is urging the government to cut deficits to secure more financing, and a struggling population on the other.
Kenyans have suffered several economic shocks caused by the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, two years of drought and the depreciation of the currency.
The finance bill aims to raise an additional $2.7 billion in taxes as part of an effort to ease Kenya’s heavy debt burden. Interest payments alone consume 37 percent of annual income.
“Ruto must go, Ruto must resign, he must do the honorable thing,” senior opposition leader Eugene Wamalwa said in a televised statement.
Another opposition leader, Raila Odinga, urged the immediate withdrawal of the funding bill to make way for dialogue.
“I am disturbed by the killings, arrests, detentions and surveillance that police are carrying out on boys and girls who just want to be heard about the tax policies that are stealing both their present and their future,” he said in a statement.
The government has made some concessions, promising to scrap proposed new taxes on bread, cooking oil, car ownership and financial transactions. But that is not enough for the protesters.
‘Ruto must go’
Tuesday’s protests began in a festival-like atmosphere, but as the crowds grew, police fired tear gas in Nairobi’s Central Business District and the poor Kibera neighborhood. Protesters took cover and threw rocks at police lines.
Police also fired tear gas in Eldoret, Ruto’s hometown in western Kenya, where crowds of protesters filled the streets and many businesses were closed for fear of violence.
Further clashes broke out in the coastal city of Mombasa and demonstrations were held in Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, and Garissa in eastern Kenya, where police blocked the main road to the neighboring Somali port of Kismayu.
In Nairobi, people chanted, “Ruto must go,” and the crowds sang in Swahili, “Anything is possible without Ruto.” Music blared from loudspeakers and protesters waved Kenyan flags and blew whistles in the few hours before the violence escalated.
Police did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Thousands took to the streets in Nairobi and several other cities last week during two days of protests as an online, youth-led movement gained momentum.
Protests in Kenya have typically been organized by political leaders willing to negotiate a solution, but the young Kenyans in the current demonstrations have no official leader and have become increasingly bold in their demands.
Initially, the demonstrators focused mainly on the financial law, but they are now also demanding Ruto’s resignation.
The opposition refused to take part in the vote in parliament, shouting: “Reject, reject” as the House went through the items one by one. The bill will then be subject to a third and final vote by acclamation on the House floor.
The changes would leave a $1.56 billion hole in the 2024-25 budget and force the government to make cuts or raise taxes elsewhere, the Treasury Department said.
Amid the turmoil, Kenyan government bonds in dollars fell on Tuesday afternoon, Tradeweb data showed. The 2034 maturity fell the most, trading 0.6 cent lower at 74.7 cents against the dollar.
“They are budgeting for corruption,” said protester Hussein Ali, 18. “We will not give in. It is the government that will withdraw. Not us.”
