By Frank Kamuntu
President William Ruto, acceding to pressure from Kenyans after several protests, has declined to sign the Finance Bill, 2024 to law.
The move follows Tuesday’s deadly protests that saw demonstrators breach Parliament premises for the first time in Kenya’s history.
“Having reflected on the continuing conversation around the content of the Finance Bill of 2024, I will decline to assent to the bill,” President Ruto said on Wednesday evening at State House, Nairobi.
The Head of State acknowledged that following the passage of the bill, the country witnessed widespread expression of dissatisfaction with the bill as passed, resulting in the loss of life, destruction of property and desecration of constitutional institutions.
“I send condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones in this unfortunate manner,” he said.
The President has also directed that the operation budget of the Presidency and the entire Executive be reduced.
“I direct immediate further austerity measures to reduce expenditure, starting with the Executive Office of the President and extending to the entire executive arm of government. I direct that operational expenditure in the Presidency be reduced to remove allocations for the confidential vote, reduce travel budget, hospitality and purchase of motor vehicles, renovations and other expenditures,” the President said.
“I propose that equally, Parliament, the Judiciary and County Governments working with the National Treasury also undertake budget cuts and austerity to ensure that we do what I have always advocated for, that we live within our means,” he said.
The Head of State further proposed an engagement with young people in the country to listen to their issues and agree with them on their priority areas of concern.
“I also propose that within the next 14 days, a multi-sectoral, multistakeholder engagement be held with a view to charting the way forward on matters relating to the content of the bill as well as auxiliary issues raised in recent days on the need for austerity measures and strengthening our fight against corruption,” he said.
