Kenya’s President William Ruto has ordered a review of plans to raise the salaries of members of the cabinet and parliament following a public outcry. It comes a week after mass protests forced Mr Ruto to drop a controversial finance bill that had included tax hikes. People began questioning how the salaries of politicians, including […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In the heart of the crowded Kibera neighborhood in Kenya’s capital, Jacinter Awino shares a small tin house with her husband and four children. She envies those who have escaped such makeshift homes to more permanent dwellings under the government’s affordable housing plan. The 33-year-old housewife and her mason husband are […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In the heart of the crowded Kibera neighborhood in Kenya’s capital, Jacinter Awino shares a small tin house with her husband and four children. She envies those who have escaped such makeshift homes to more permanent dwellings under the government’s affordable housing plan. The 33-year-old housewife and her mason husband are […]
In the chaotic context of this week’s violence on the streets of the Kenyan capital and a government accused of responding brutally to protests, rumours began to take on a life of their own – feeding into public anger and further stoking a situation that was already tense. On Tuesday citizens watched in horror as […]
A strong undercurrent driving the unprecedented anti-tax protests in Kenya is outrage over theft of public resources coupled with the extravagant lifestyles of public servants. There are widespread frustrations that President William Ruto also failed to deliver on his electoral promises to address corruption. He’s even earned a new nickname — “Zakayo”, a reference to […]
Kenyan MPs may still be reeling after anti-tax protesters overpowered police and invaded parliament on Tuesday – but two legislators are actually thankful to some of the invaders who went to their rescue during the ordeal. “I was very scared and I prayed to God as about 22 young protesters surrounded me,” MP Rose Museo, […]
The News NAIROBI — Kenya’s President William Ruto on Wednesday withdrew a controversial finance bill that contained unpopular tax hikes following pressure from youth-led protests. Twenty-one protesters had been killed as of Tuesday evening, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), with more than 200 injured. “Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who […]
Kenya’s President William Ruto says he will withdraw a finance bill containing controversial tax hikes after deadly protests which saw parliament set ablaze on Tuesday. In an address to the nation, he said it was clear that Kenyans “want nothing” to do with the bill. “I concede,” he said, adding that he will not sign […]
Kenyan President William Ruto has blamed “a group of organized criminals” for the storming of parliament following peaceful protests. The protests had been “infiltrated and hijacked,” Ruto said in a televised address on Tuesday. The protests were sparked by a new tax law that introduces additional tax burdens and increases existing taxes. Since Tuesday morning, […]
Kenya’s president has called the storming of parliament a national security threat and vowed that such unrest will not happen again “at whatever cost”. President William Ruto spoke in a national address hours after part of the parliament building was burned as thousands of protesters against a new finance Bill pushed their way in and […]
The choices facing Kenya’s President William Ruto are now far from easy. Elected in 2022 pledging to cut corruption, shore up the country’s faltering economy and help the poor, the embattled Mr Ruto now faces an unprecedented rebellion against his finance bill – legislation he says he is an essential part of his plan to […]
Part of Kenya’s parliament building has been burned as thousands of protesters against a new finance Bill entered and legislators fled, in the most direct assault on the government in decades. Journalists saw at least three bodies outside the complex where police had opened fire. Protesters had demanded that legislators vote against the Bill imposing […]