“For a better Kenya”: demonstrators ready for a new march despite Ruto’s change of heart | National

The protests were sparked last week by the 2024 Finance Bill and surprised Ruto’s government as initially peaceful rallies gained momentum across the country.

But dramatic scenes on Tuesday outside Parliament, in which the partly burning complex was breached and ransacked, left the nation in shock as a state-backed rights group counted 22 dead in throughout the country and promised to open an investigation.

Addressing a shocked nation on Wednesday afternoon, Ruto said he would not sign the bill and that it “would then be withdrawn”.

“The people have spoken,” he said, adding that he would seek to “engage with the youth of our nation.”

It’s a marked change from his late-night speech Tuesday, when he compared some protesters to “criminals.”

However, prominent protesters rejected his comments, with one, Hanifa Adan, calling them a “PR” move after violence at rallies earlier this week.

Adan had earlier said protesters would “march peacefully again as we wear white, for all our fallen people”, with some supporters planning to bring flowers in memory of the dead.

“You can’t kill us all,” she said on X.

– No need for deaths –

Nelly, 25, told AFP she planned to join the march on Thursday, criticizing Ruto’s approach as too little, too late.

“He could have done it sooner without people dying,” she said.

“So let everyone know that we will march tomorrow for a better future in Kenya. »

The death toll stood at 22 on Wednesday, including 19 in the capital alone, according to Roseline Odede, chairwoman of the state-funded Kenya National Human Rights Commission.

“This is the highest number of deaths in a single day of protest,” Odede said, adding that 300 people were injured across the country.

Simon Kigondu, president of the Kenya Medical Association, said he had never before seen “this level of violence against unarmed people”.

An official at Nairobi’s Kenyatta National Hospital said Wednesday that doctors were treating “160 people… including some with gunshot wounds.”

In front of Parliament, where demonstrators converged on Tuesday, an AFP journalist saw dried blood on the sidewalks, and the smell of tear gas still persisted on Wednesday morning.

Rights groups have also accused authorities of kidnapping protesters.

Police did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

– Fears linked to debt –

The Kenyan leader had already canceled some tax measures last week, prompting the Treasury to warn of a yawning budget deficit of 200 billion shillings ($1.6 billion).

Ruto said on Wednesday that withdrawing the bill would result in a major shortfall in funding for development programmes aimed at helping farmers and teachers, among others.

The cash-strapped government had previously said the increases were necessary to service Kenya’s massive debt, which stands at some 10 trillion shillings ($78 billion), or about 70 percent of the GDP.

The unrest has alarmed the international community, with Washington calling on Kenya on Wednesday to respect the right to peaceful protest and the UN calling for “accountability” for the bloodshed.

Ruto’s administration is under pressure from the IMF, which has urged the country to implement tax reforms in order to access essential financing.

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