Kenyan police crack down on tax protests; Parliament set on fire

At 3pm on Tuesday, a group of protesters entered the parliament building in downtown Nairobi after entering the heavily fortified compound. Gunshots were heard from inside the Kenyan parliament and several people were reported dead on social media. The Post could not provide details on the number of people killed in the incident.

The bill, titled the Finance Bill 2024, was submitted to the Kenyan Parliament for debate in May. It proposes increases in taxable income, excise duties and value added tax, and introduces new income tax categories into the country’s finance laws.

The tax bill proposed by Kenyan President William Ruto’s government was first debated in Kenya’s parliament last week. It easily passed the final debate on Tuesday after 195 MPs, mostly from the president’s ruling party, voted in favor of it, while 106 MPs, mostly from minority opposition parties, voted against it. The bill was passed on Tuesday as protests continued in various parts of the country.

At least one person, 29-year-old Rex Kanyike Masai, died of a gunshot wound during protests last week. Human rights groups say more than 200 other people have been injured since protests began last week.

Masai had left the house with his best friend at 4 p.m. on Thursday to join the protests and was hit when police fired live ammunition into the crowd of demonstrators.

“I asked the police for help,” the friend told The Post, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “They refused to help, some said he got what he was looking for.” Masai died on the way to the hospital, he said.

Due to the high number of young people taking to the streets, the demonstrations were largely branded as Generation Z protests.

“We see young protesters who don’t need to be led by anyone, taking to the streets to say they are tired,” said George Mwangi, 32, a taxi driver in Nairobi. “In every generation there comes a time when people decide enough is enough and this is one of those moments,” he said.

Mwangi stayed away from Nairobi’s central business district on Tuesday morning, unsure of how the protests would turn out. Most Kenyan schools had closed the day before for the semester break. Some schools cited security concerns in memos to parents ahead of Tuesday’s protests.

Most shops in Nairobi’s central business district were closed early Tuesday as crowds chanted “Ruto must go” while some sang the national anthem. Large trucks carrying armed security guards patrolled the city. There was a heavy security presence on the roads leading to the president’s official residence.

As the day went on, more and more protesters took to the streets. “We are ready to die for this country,” declared one protester, standing on top of a police van and holding a placard. When he was arrested, police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd that had gathered in the street.

The Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU), a human rights group in Kenya made up of lawyers and doctors, told the Post that at least one person had died and 50 protesters had been arrested during Tuesday’s protests. As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, 26 more injuries from live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters had been reported. The IMLU said it was trying to rescue a doctor who was hit in the back by a tear gas canister while treating injured protesters. The group was unable to send an ambulance through to her because police had blocked the roads.

The controversial clauses of the tax law include a proposal to increase tax revenue from digital platforms, a tax on food products such as bread and cooking oil, and proposed taxes on contributions to social security funds. The draft law also initially proposed the introduction of a so-called motor vehicle tax of 2.5 percent of the value of one’s own motor vehicle. It was also proposed to impose an environmental tax, a so-called eco-tax, on imported industrial goods such as sanitary napkins, diapers and telephones.

Last week, the President’s Office announced that there had been changes to the proposed Finance Bill. “The changes to the Finance Bill took into account the views of the people and other stakeholders during public participation sessions,” it said.

The controversial clauses that were removed from the bill included a proposed 16 percent value-added tax on bread, proposed taxes on financial services, the vehicle tax, as well as proposed fee increases on mobile money transfers and taxes on other products such as vegetable oil, according to the statement. Taxes on some social security programs such as social health insurance were also removed, the statement said.