By Frank Kamuntu
Protesters were back on Nairobi’s streets Thursday saying they didn’t think the olive branch offered by Kenyan President William Ruto — putting on hold an unpopular tax bill — was genuine.
Police fired tear gas canisters to disperse crowds in Nairobi’s commercial district, where most businesses were closed. The message of protesters to the president was clear: “Ruto must go, Ruto must go.”
Demonstrators tell Swift News they are not scared to protest even if tear gas is being fired left and right.
“The police is trying to scare us away, people who have come to peacefully protest. On my behalf I am here to peacefully protest. But the president, it’s time for him to go, to resign,” said Karege.
Another protester said: “We’ve been thrown teargas all along. We don’t have a problem with his excellency, the only thing we are seeking is peace.”
For another one, the president shouldn’t be overtaxing the population to repay debt when ordinary Kenyans have not benefited from money borrowed by the government.
“We want to hear the measures he has put in place to curb high taxation. High taxation because the government has taken a lot of loans from the IMF and the World Bank and we as Kenyans, we have not seen what the loans have done, it has not benefited us as citizens of Kenya. It has only gone to a few specific individuals, so we are really requesting the president, let those involved in corruption be brought to justice,” said Kibsang.
In an address to the nation Wednesday, Kenyan President Ruto said that he’s decided not to sign a controversial bill that included a series of tax increases. He spoke one day after more than 20 people were killed during protests against the bill that led to clashes with police.
The president defended the proposed tax increases, saying the money would be used to help farmers and to employ teachers, among other priorities.
He said it was necessary for Kenyans to discuss how to manage the country’s budget and debt, and said he would engage with the young people of the nation.
Earlier Wednesday, Frederick Odhiambo Ojiro, an activist and rapid response officer at human rights group Haki Africa, told Swift News that he did not think the president’s speech was sincere. He said protesters plan to camp outside the State House.
“We have to move to occupy State House until the president resigns because the president also fell short of castigating the men and women in uniform that he had used to silence the masses,” he said. “The president was not genuine in his statement, he was just trying to cover his face. We still have to press, we still have to demand that the atrocities committed by this president, they are accounted for. ”
When we spoke to Ojiro, he was in a hospital caring for comrades who were injured in the recent protests.
“Currently we have 116 comrades who are still in the hospital and the more than 200 who were treated the other day at night and released. So today I am waiting for other comrades who have been coordinating the mobilization of the financial support to just support comrades who need financial attention in terms of payment of the bills and other basic amenities,” he said.
The protesters were not able to access the State House Thursday because all the roads leading to it were blocked by police.
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