\n
Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday that he will not sign a controversial finance bill that had sparked deadly protests in the country and left at least six people dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving reflected on the continuing conversation regarding the content of the finance bill 2024, and listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede, and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill,\u201d Ruto said during a television address Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people have spoken,\u201d Ruto said. \u201cFollowing the passage of the bill, the country experienced widespread expression of dissatisfaction with the bill as passed, regrettably resulting in the loss of life, the destruction of property and desecration of constitutional institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenya, a nation often praised for its stability, has seen escalating protests over the bill, spearheaded largely by young people.<\/p>\n
Last week, the government scrapped some tax increases, including a proposed 16% value-added tax on bread along with taxes on motor vehicles, vegetable oil and mobile money transfers. But the concessions were not enough to quell protests amid the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday they turned deadly when security forces fired teargas and live ammunition at protesters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI send my condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones in this very unfortunate manner,\u201d Ruto added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is need for us as a nation to pick up from here and go into the future,\u201d Ruto said, adding that he will hold an engagement with young people in Kenya to listen to their ideas and proposals.<\/p>\n
Ruto\u2019s change of heart came as a surprise to some who observed his hardline stance just a day earlier.<\/p>\n
During a nationwide address after the parliament was set alight, Ruto said the events on Tuesday were a grave threat to \u201cnational security\u201d and that the conversation around the bill had been \u201chijacked by dangerous people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenyan analyst Herman Manyora said withdrawing the bill much earlier could have saved the lives lost on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis announcement should have come earlier. He has done today what he should have done two days ago to avoid what we went through yesterday. It pains me that we had to wait \u2026 for us to do what we should have done on Monday \u2026 and that\u2019s a general feeling among people,\u201d Manyora told CNN.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday that he will not sign a controversial finance bill that had sparked deadly protests in the country and left at least six people dead. \u201cHaving reflected on the continuing conversation regarding the content of the finance bill 2024, and listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":193697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n
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