Kenya President, William Ruto, has confirmed that he will not sign the nation’s 2024 amended tax bill passed by the parliament yesterday into law.
The president made this known on Wednesday while addressing the nation in a national broadcast.
This decision came after nationwide protest erupted across the nation that led to killing of six protesters and destruction of properties.
The president said he has listened to Kenyans and the 2024 amended tax bill will be stepped down in agreement with members of the parliament and his cabinet.
“I concede,” Ruto said in a televised address on Wednesday. “I run a government but I also lead people. And the people have spoken” the president said.
Blaze Newz gathered that the tax bill was meant to raise taxes of daily items and services including internet data, fuel, bank transfers and diapers. Some measures were stripped as anger grew. The proposals are part of the Kenyan government’s efforts to raise an extra $2.7 billion in domestic revenue.
The government had said the changes are necessary to pay interest on national debt, reduce the budget deficit and keep the government running. Protesters see them as punitive, since the high cost of living already makes it hard to get by.
A 2023 finance bill signed into law by Ruto was also unpopular, featuring a tax on salaries for housing, but the anger was nothing like this.
Young Kenyans have been organizing on social media, organizing peaceful street demonstrations meant to force authorities to drop this finance bill altogether. The protests started on June 18 after the bill was made public for the first time.
The protests began in Nairobi but have spread to other parts of Kenya, including the Indian Ocean city of Mombasa and even in Eldoret, a town in the Rift Valley region that’s been a bastion of support for the president.
Kenya’s political opposition stormed out of Tuesday’s session in which the bill was passed.
