Kenya’s President Ruto remains adamant

The situation in Kenya remains tense following violent protests against the government’s tax plans. President Ruto is unyielding and has announced that he wants to end the protests with the help of the military.

It is perhaps the most difficult moment in Kenyan President William Ruto’s term in office. People all over the country are resisting his tax plans. Many Kenyans are disappointed – with the president and his policies.

And they wonder why the president wants even more taxes from them. “We want to know what they have done with our money – before they present us with another budget with tax increases,” says a demonstrator in Nairobi. “We want to know what they have done with the billions. The government has nothing to show for it.”

Allegation of corruption and nepotism

The demonstrators accuse Ruto’s government of corruption and nepotism. Protests escalated in Nairobi on Tuesday. The demonstrators managed to break down the police barriers at the parliament and break into the grounds and later into the plenary hall.

The police – overwhelmed and in the minority – used live ammunition against the demonstrators. It is still unclear how many people were killed and injured.

Military to be deployed

But in his evening speech, President Ruto was uncompromising. “Today is a turning point,” he said. “From now on, we will deal differently with threats to our national security.”

In order to control the protests in the country, the Kenyan military is to be deployed inland with immediate effect. The internet has been throttled since Tuesday afternoon. Social media such as the X platform or WhatsApp, which the demonstrators used to organize themselves, are no longer accessible or are only accessible with difficulty. The authorities are also said to have threatened to close the private broadcaster KTN.

People are said to have been abducted

And people who called for protests on social media this week are said to have been abducted. “We are shocked by what we have heard in the past 24 hours,” says the director of the human rights organization Amnesty International in Kenya, Irungu Houghton. “We know of 12 cases of people who are missing after being abducted in the middle of the night by either uniformed or plainclothes police officers. They have no legal representation and their families do not know what has happened to them.”

It is unlikely that a unilateral escalation through the deployment of the military and restrictions on the internet will resolve the conflict between Ruto and the protesters. This week, respected lawyers have sided with the protesters and provided legal advice.

Many people are already struggling with high living costs and can barely make ends meet. That is why the protesters want to continue to overturn the law. Ruto, on the other hand, needs the additional income to pay off foreign debts. The coming weeks will show who will win this dispute.