Stop the killing of Kenya’s children and suspend the finance bill.

Today our country is paying a high price for the government’s stubbornness.

Issues that should have been resolved through dialogue and humility have degenerated into developments never seen before in our country’s 61-year history since independence.

I am deeply disturbed by the violent and deadly crackdown on young, peaceful protesters exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.

I am appalled by the killings, arrests, detentions and police surveillance of boys and girls who are simply trying to make their voices heard about tax policies that are robbing them of both their present and their future.

We had hoped that the government would show goodwill and humility and at least listen to the children of the country. Instead, any dissenting opinion was dismissed and ridiculed by government officials and politicians of the ruling party. Now such dissenting voices are being silenced through brutality and murder.

The constitution seems to be suspended. We cannot allow this.

The government has used brutal force against the children of our country, and it appears that more violence is to come.

We cannot allow that.

We cannot and will not tolerate another minute of this series of murders and violence that could have been and still can be avoided.

Kenya cannot afford to kill its children just because they ask for food, work and a listening ear.

The police must therefore immediately stop shooting innocent, peaceful and unarmed protesting children who are demanding guarantees from the state for a better future.

The grief and frustration of the protesting boys and girls is extremely great and far-reaching.

The immediate trigger, however, is the Finance Act.

This bill is neither an emergency nor a matter of life and death for the government and Kenyans.

Kenyans will recall that when a stalemate arose in the last legislative session over demands for a reduction in tax on petroleum products from 16 to 8 percent, the then Jubilee government agreed to suspend this provision and revert to the old Finance Act until consensus was reached.

The same thing can happen today if the government suspends the current finance law and continues with last year’s finance law.

The first step to ending this impasse and brutal bloodshed is for the government to immediately and unconditionally withdraw the finance bill, paving the way for a new beginning and dialogue.

In addition, the government must immediately stop the violence of its authorities against the population and arrest all police officers who have shot and killed protesters.

Without these first steps, no one should imagine that the current situation will change any time soon, and no one should believe that Kenyans will stand idly by while the police slaughter their children in defense of a policy whose consequences have a chilling effect on citizens, especially the youth.

I call on the East African Community, the African Union and the United Nations to immediately address the evolving situation in Kanya to save lives and save the country.

I mourn with the families who have lost loved ones and stand with them in their ongoing struggle for justice and economic liberation.

Raila Odinga is the leader of the ODM party and former Prime Minister of Kenya.