Kenyan anti riot police detain a young man during a planned demonstration called after a nationwide deadly protest against a controversial now-withdrawn tax bill left over 20 dead in downtown Nairobi, in June. Amnesty International, among others, has voiced its concern about the unnecessary and excessive force by Kenya’s security organs.. – Picture: Simon Maina / AFP / Taken June 27, 2024
By Kim Heller
Over the past four weeks, fury has become the street talk of Kenya. It is a righteous anger of young Kenyans who are furious that their president has failed to live up to his youth orientated, bottom-up political promises.
Less than two years into his presidency, William Ruto faces a wrath so fierce, that it could see him cast out as the country’s number one citizen. Even if President William Ruto stays in office, his reputation will be severely injured, in Kenya, on the Continent and internationally.
It has been a turbulent time for Kenya as young citizens took to the streets to protest against the 2024 Finance Bill, which would put additional pressure on the already tremendously weighty economic load of ordinary citizens. Massive sweeping protests across Kenya, and the Diaspora, forced the Kenyan President William Ruto to withdraw the Bill.
The BBC’s Africa bureau chief in Nairobi, Stewart Maclean, wrote how the protest “forced one of Africa’s most internationally regarded leaders to junk his flagship policy”. He writes that the humbling of the Kenyan president is an illustration of the power of Kenya’s youth.
Carnage has been extensive. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, fifty people lost their lives during the protests, including a 12-year-old, and a further 413 were severely injured.
The Commission also reported 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances” and 627 arrests of protesters. There are claims too of several journalists who covered the protests being attacked and arrested by police officials.
Amnesty International voiced its concern about the unnecessary and excessive force by Kenya’s security organs. The organisation has implored the government to stop criminalising protests and to operate “strictly within the confines of the law”.
Human Rights Watch reported that police not only shot into crowds unprovoked, but that they did so even as protesters tried to flee. This is in violation of Kenyan and international law.
Politically, cabinet ministers were part of the overall carnage. Ruto fired almost all of his executive. The president said he took this drastic action after “reflection”, listening to Kenyans, and after a “holistic appraisal” of his cabinet.
But it was not enough for the young protesters. Protesters are demanding the resignation of Ruto himself.
The president’s wholesale firing of cabinet ministers is more likely to be a desperate act to save his presidency than an act of true accountability. This dramatic move was made on the pivot of potent protest and public pressure. By scapegoating others, Ruto has tried to save his own skin. For a president this is the inverse of accountability.
Last week President Ruto promised action against “rogue” police officers who shot at unarmed protesters. This a strong shift away from his first insensitive and tone-deaf response to the protest action which he described as criminal and treasonous.
Ruto’s change of tune is more likely to have been a gesture to silence international condemnation than a conscious awakening to the cries of Kenya’s youth.
The President’s shift could also well have been driven by fears that his indictment by the International Criminal Court in 2011, on charges for politically related violence, would resurface and be used to portray him as a ruthless leader.
For the young Kenyan protesters, the Finance Bill was just the tip of the iceberg. More ‘winds of change’ than ‘wildfire,’ these protests placed the spotlight on the country’s systemic problems including poor governance, corruption, constitutional transgressions, impossibly high costs of living and lingering economic hardships.
A report in The Economist describes how the protests have inspired “wild optimism” and how the protesters’ rally call for an end to corruption, injustice and inequality appears “noble rather than tawdry”.
The Economist report argues that the protests, by denouncing the entire political class rather than championing a self-serving political leader or faction, has united rather than polarised people.
In The New Yorker last week, Carey Baraka, wrote how the protesters have raised their voice of outrage against a culture in which Kenya’s political class enriches itself at the expense of citizens.
For Kenyan born Baraka, the protests mark “a seismic shift in a nation where young people have been accused of political apathy”. She writes that, “During general elections in 2022, most young Kenyans didn’t even register to vote.
“Now, for the first time since the country adopted a new constitution in 2010, the country’s youth are a critical part of a movement in which people are risking their lives to fight for the democratic gains they have been promised.”
Last week, the president apologised for the “arrogance and show of opulence” of government ministers. He spoke of setting up the prospect of a government of national unity.
Ruto also froze pay increases. Japhet Koome, Kenya’s police chief resigned. But the “RutoMustGo” protests on Tuesday, 16 July, continued. Trust for Ruto is low and may be irrecoverably damaged.
Police violence, which has long been a feature of Kenyan society, needs urgent interrogation. State violence against citizens is a tell-tale sign of a government that lacks legitimacy. Any measure of violence by government against its citizens bullets democracy. It is an ugly signature of a ruthless government.
Dr Paul Mulindwa, Africa’s advocacy and campaigns officer for CIVICUS has condemned the “unwarranted violence and disproportionate response against protesters by the police”. He implored that those responsible for violations be held accountable and brought to justice.
Well known activist, Boniface Mwangi, has said peaceful protests will continue until the government takes some form of responsibility for the deceased protesters.
Ruto’s accusations that the US’s Ford Foundation is “funding anarchy and violence in Kenya” and destabilising Kenya’s democracy, appears to be yet another attempt to divert attention, avoid accountability and escape culpability. The Ford Foundation has emphatically denied any involvement.
Ruto’s outsourcing of the problem and his illegalisation of protest action is disappointing. It reminds us that in 2023, Ruto characterised protests against high living costs and purported election fraud as unlawful. He also blamed Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, of terrorising Kenya.
Former member of Parliament and activist, Martha Karua, wrote this week that she is “incredibly grateful to witness Gen Z in Kenya reclaiming our agency and fearlessly demanding accountability from political and religious leaders, succeeding in ways we, as politicians, have struggled to achieve”.
Karua urged Ruto to heed the people’s voices and resign. She says, “People have passed a vote of No Confidence in the most practical manner possible.”
To prevent further unnecessary confrontations, I urge William Ruto to heed the people’s voices and resign. Enough is enough to corruption and incompetence.
— Martha Karua SC (@MarthaKarua) July 15, 2024
People have passed a vote of No Confidence in the most practical manner possible.#RutoMustGo
Tuesday saw many businesses in the major towns of Kenya close for the day as marches branded as “Rage and Courage” took place across the nation. The US Embassy issued a travel advisory. “All power belongs to the people,” one poster read as tear gas was used to disperse protestors. At least one protestor is reported to have been killed in Nairobi.
Earlier in the day, the acting national police chief, Douglas Kanja said that they had received credible intelligence indicating that “certain organised criminal groups have planned to infiltrate, disrupt and destabilise the peaceful nature of the demonstrations, which could potentially jeopardise the safety of demonstrators”.
Its fire and fury in Kenya. It looks like nothing less than the resignation of President William Ruto will end this explosive situation. For now, people’s power is on the rise in Kenya, and it is impacting the Continent with reports of similar protests by young people in Nigeria, Malawi and Uganda being planned.
Speaking at a church service this last Sunday, President Ruto said, “I am fully in charge, I am stronger, I assure Kenyans that I will have a very effective cabinet to serve Kenyans, I will have a government of national unity, pray for me, my government is committed to moving Kenya forward.”
But for now, it looks like the youth are in charge. They are demanding accountability as they should.
Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of ‘No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa’.
This article was written exclusively for The African. To republish, see terms and conditions.