Kenya’s President, William Ruto has said he will retract a finance bill containing contentious tax hikes after dangerous protests saw the parliament being set ablaze on Tuesday.
The Kenyan President had while addressing the nation, said it was clear that Kenyans wanted to distance themselves from the bill.
“I concede,” He was quoted to have said, adding that he would not sign the bill into law.
About 22 people were killed in Tuesday’s protests, a state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHRC) had said.
A news headline on Kenya’s Citizen TV had read;
“Ruto bows to Gen Z pressure, withdraws Finance Bill”
Ruto had made his second address to the nation in less than 24 hours revealing how he laid out a very clear rationale for why he thought the tax increases were necessary.
The proposed legislation had been initiated as an attempt to cut the country’s massive debt burden of more than $80bn (£63bn), — a debt that costs the country more than half of its annual tax revenues to service.
As yet, it is unclear clear how his climbdown will affect plans to resume the protests, which have mostly been organised via social media, since Thursday.
Gossip swirling on social media had suggested that it would still go ahead.
The primary purpose of the protests was to force the president not to sign the bill but now, protesters have begun calling for Ruto’s resignation from office, bearing placards that read; “Ruto must go.”
Ruto had been elected president in 2022, defeating his closest rival, Raila Odinga by a narrow margin.
