Kenyan anti-tax demo threatens to 'occupy State House'

Kenya’s army of young protesters is threatening to storm State House, the seat of power in Nairobi on Thursday to force the government to back down on its infamous tax bill passed by MPs on Tuesday, a former African Press Agency correspondent said on Wednesday.

The source who preferred to remain anonymous told APA that the government has scrambled a motion authorising the deployment of the military in and around the capital as word spread that the demonstrators are planning on storming State House on Thursday.

According to the protest movement’s ‘7 days of rage’ leaflet seen by APA, the demonstrators apparently unfazed by the killing of their own fellow protesters will not relent.

”Block main roads leading to Nairobi and #OccupyStateHouse to witness Ruto sign our lives into slavery” it adds menacingly.

Tuesday saw the deadliest day of the demonstrations since the Kenyan season of protests began earlier this month with five fatalities.

At least 120 people are thought to have been injured in clashes with the tear-gas-firing police who have been accused of using live ammunition to deal with the protesters.

The death toll since the protest began has been put at 13 although sources say the number of fatalities could be much higher as General Zero took to the streets over a series of ‘cruelly explotative’ taxes which have caused frustration and anger among the population.

Angered by MPs passing the hated Finance Act of 2024, on Tuesday, General Zero protesters stormed the parliament building, set parts of it on fire and engaged the security forces in deadly running battles in the streets of Nairobi.

The office of the governor and the city town hall were also torched.

The under-fire Kenyan government is locked in a dilemma of either going ahead with its infamous tax regime and incur more pubic wrath on the streets or reducing public services which may also backfire on its promise to provide alternative jobs for its citizens.

The finance act 2024 being bulldozed by the government aims to increase taxes manifold. It includes fees for goods and services including financial transfers, diapers, internet data and fuel, items which Kenyans must use everyday.

However following an outcry last year, the government removed some of these fees but says the latest taxes became imperative to raise the domestic revenue target to $2.7 billion.

It says servicing the national debt and halving the budget deficit were necessary to restore sanity to government spending, explanations which ring hollow to Kenyan protesters already feeling the pinch economically.

Last year’s finance bill which became law after it received a presidential assent and caused some outcry led to taxes on salaries for a low-cost housing scheme which Ruto had promised during his 2022 campaign for election to the presidency.

Kenyans feel they are already shortchanged by being over taxed against the backdrop of searing economic hardships and growing unemployment for millions of young people, issues which were among problems he had vowed to address as the country’s leader.

Generation Zero protesters accused his government of being insensitive to the plight of ordinary Kenyans who ‘are being choked to death’ by already existing taxes and frustrated by official corruption.

However, in an address to the nation the 57-year-old remained defiant and in turn accused organised criminals of hijacking the protest movement to further their own ‘criminal agendas’ and warned that they will be crushed.

Clouds of uncertainty hang over Nairobi

Hours after ‘bloody Tuesday’, Nairobi and the rest of Kenya remain tense as the government anticipates further trouble from an army of thousands of young people using the sheering weight of their numbers to overwhelm the security forces drafted in to control them and occupy the streets.

Our souce said the situation remains fluid and uncertain with both sides appearing to be digging in and holding fast to their positions.

”Nobody knows for sure what’s going to happen next. It’s so unpredictable” he added.

Leaderless protesters

According to our source, the protests are organic.

”The protestors have no leader. It’s an amorphous group. Everybody is shocked by how they are organized, financed and fearless. We have never seen anything like this. We are waiting for tomorrow to see how things pan out” he said.

The protests started through social media mobilisation is being shaped and sustained by it.

As Kenyans brace themsleves for more protests in the coming days, Ruto’s leadership will be put to a sterner test for its own survival and a return to the peace which is crucial to his message to investors that Kenya is East Africa’s biggest economy for a reason thanks to its reputation as a stable democracy.

WN/as/APA

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Kenyan anti-tax demo threatens to ‘occupy State House’

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