By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Kenya’s President William Ruto on Wednesday, has declined to sign the controversial 2024 Finance Bill after it passed committee change in Parliament on Tuesday.
The move follows Tuesday’s deadly protests that saw demonstrators breach Parliament premises for the first time in Kenya’s history.
At least 23 people were killed across Kenya and another 30 were being treated for bullet wounds, the Kenya Medical Association said.
Hours later, Defence Minister Aden Bare Duale announced that the government had deployed the army to support the police in tackling “the security emergency” in the country.
In a late-night press briefing, Ruto warned that his government would take a tough line against “violence and anarchy”, likening some of the demonstrators to “criminals”.
Ruto returned the bill to the Parliament on Wednesday for further consideration. This means the President has effectively vetoed the bill, and the Parliament will now decide whether to amend the bill to address the President’s concerns, abandon it, or attempt to pass it again.
“Following the passage of the Bill, the country witnessed widespread expression of dissatisfaction with the Bill as passed, regrettably 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.”
Consequently, having reflected on the continuing conversation around the content of the Finance Bill, 2024, I will decline to assent to the Bill,” Ruto said in a televised address from State House on Wednesday flanked by the ruling party members of Parliament who voted for the Bill.
Press Briefing, State House, Nairobi. https://t.co/BYWljpfcGT
— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) June 26, 2024
Ruto won the election almost two years ago on a platform of championing Kenya’s working poor, but has been caught between the competing demands of lenders such as the IMF — which is urging the government to cut deficits to obtain more financing — and a hard-pressed population.
Kenya has one of the most dynamic economies in East Africa but a third of its 52 million people live in poverty.
The country has a huge debt mountain whose servicing costs have ballooned because of a fall in the value of the local currency over the last two years, making interest payments on foreign-currency loans more expensive.
After the government agreed to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership and financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings ($1.56 billion).