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Demonstrators stormed Kenya’s parliament on Tuesday in youth-led protests against planned tax rises as police gunfire left at least five people dead and more than 30 injured.
The country’s army was deployed on Tuesday evening to support police after parts of the parliament building in Nairobi were set on fire and lawmakers fled, while police let off tear gas canisters at protesters outside amid the crackling of live ammunition.
Earlier on Tuesday, parliament had passed a bill to increase taxes, including fuel levies and import taxes, despite days of protests opposing the move. The law is now awaiting the assent of President William Ruto.
Defence secretary Aden Bare Duale on Tuesday evening said he was deploying the military “in response to the security emergency caused by the ongoing violent protests”.
Demonstrators were calling for a shutdown of the economy over $2bn of planned tax increases that aim to fill holes in the deeply indebted country’s budget, but which protesters argue will make it even harder for many of Kenya’s 54mn population to make ends meet.
Police on Tuesday tried to disperse mostly young protesters chanting “Ruto must go!” amid mounting anger over the government’s plans.
“Ruto is using the finance bill to impose heavy taxation on Kenyans,” 25-year-old Davis Tafari, one of the youngsters leading the protests in Nairobi, told the Financial Times. He called the tax bill “punitive and draconian”.
“We will make sure to continue with demonstrations until Ruto is gone,” he added.
At least five people were killed and more than 30 injured, including 13 shot with live bullets, said a grouping of legal, medical and human rights organisations including Amnesty International’s Kenya branch.
Ambassadors from countries including the US, a staunch ally of Ruto, said they were “deeply concerned by the violence witnessed in many parts of the country during the recent protests” and “regret the tragic loss of life and injuries sustained, including by the use of live fire”.
Chief Justice Martha Koome said she was “deeply concerned” about allegations of abductions, a concern also raised by the US and other countries. The Kenya Human Rights Commission said security forces abducted prominent critics of the tax proposals, seizing many from their homes under cover of darkness.
Non-governmental groups on Tuesday said more than 50 people had been arrested in the past 24 hours, while there had been 21 “abductions and disappearances by uniformed and non-uniformed officers”.
Ruto was due to give a briefing later on Tuesday.
After protests began a week ago, lawmakers from the ruling coalition dropped some of the most controversial proposals, such as higher taxes on bread, cooking oils, nappies, mobile-money transfers and motor vehicles. Opposition lawmakers refused to take part in voting for the bill, however.
“You cannot amend a bad bill,” opposition lawmaker Otiende Amollo said. “This thing is simple: withdraw the entirety of the finance bill.”
James Shikwati, a Nairobi-based economist, said: “President Ruto and his team are not keen on austerity but on taxation to align with bullet points from the IMF . . . But if he insists on the bill, I think protests will continue.”
Young Kenyans — many of them jobless and calling themselves “GenerationZ” — have been organising on social media, resulting in protests over the past week in east Africa’s most-advanced economy. This has marked a change from previous demonstrations during Ruto’s time in office, which were spurred by his 79-year-old rival, Raila Odinga, and featured an older group of protesters.
The tax rises aim to bring in an additional $2.3bn of revenue in the fiscal year that starts next week. Ruto wants to reduce the budget deficit as he tries to improve Kenya’s fiscal position, partly to comply with an IMF programme that requires Nairobi to increase revenues, slash expenditures and borrow less.
Kenya’s Treasury secretary Njuguna Ndung’u had warned that not approving the tax increases in full risked creating a $1.5bn hole in the budget, and proposed slashing expenditures if the bill failed, including in areas such as school meals.
Ruto, a self-styled “hustler” with a rags-to-riches story, took office in 2022 vowing to ease the financial burden on Kenyans. But he has faced mass protests after removing fuel subsidies and levying new taxes.
Interest payments on Kenya’s debt have been eating up almost 38 per cent of revenues, according to the World Bank. The nation’s debt — equal to more than 68 per cent of GDP — is at high risk of distress, the IMF said.
“I am protesting against the finance bill because it is going to hurt the common mwananchi,” or citizen, in Swahili, said Malaika Agunda, a 21-year-old nursing student earlier on Tuesday who “hustles” to survive in campus. “This bill has to be rejected! Enough is enough!”
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