Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday announced fresh borrowing plans and spending cuts after contentious tax hikes were scrapped following protests that left 39 people dead.

The East African nation was left reeling after peaceful rallies over the steep tax increases flared into violence, with police firing at crowds who stormed parliament, leaving it partly ablaze.

While mostly led by Gen-Z Kenyans, the rallies tapped into a wider sense of anger against an annual finance bill, which Ruto was forced to abandon while warning of a massive funding shortfall.

“We will be proposing to the National Assembly a budget cut of not the entire 346, but a budget cut of 177 billion and borrowing the difference (around 169 billion shillings),” said Ruto.

Public debt amounts to some 10 trillion shillings ($78 billion), around 70 percent of Kenya’s GDP.

The decision to borrow would result in the fiscal deficit rising “from 3.3 percent to 4.6 percent”, but would pay for some services, Ruto said.

These would include the hiring of secondary school teachers and medical interns, as well as continuing to fund a milk stabilisation and fertiliser programme that protects farmers.

Ruto announced several belt-tightening measures, including the absorption of 47 state-run organisations and companies with other departments.

The office of the first lady and that of the deputy president’s spouse will cease to exist and the number of government advisors slashed by half.

Ruto announced the budget for government renovations — a sore topic after it emerged earlier this year that the deputy president’s office had spent some 10 million shillings on curtains — would also be halved.

“All non-essential travel by state and public officers is hereby suspended,” he added.

Anger has simmered over Ruto’s extensive foreign travel, with the president jetting back to Kenya just before the first protests, following a high-profile trip to Washington.

“These measures will be followed by changes in government,” he added, without giving more details.

The president was speaking shortly before he began hosting an event on X, formerly Twitter, where he had promised to engage with young Kenyans.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a military court has sentenced eight soldiers, including five officers, to death for desertion and cowardice during their engagement with the M23 rebels. These soldiers were accused of abandoning their positions during a crucial battle, leading to their court-martial and subsequent sentencing.

This decision marks the first instance of capital punishment being handed down since the DRC lifted a moratorium on executions earlier this year​​.

The M23 rebels, predominantly of Tutsi ethnicity, resumed their insurgency in North Kivu province in late 2021, capturing significant territory and posing a substantial threat to regional stability.

The DRC government has been struggling to contain the rebellion, which has led to suspicions of security force infiltration and complicity with the enemy. The court’s harsh verdict underscores the government’s determination to enforce military discipline amidst ongoing conflicts​​.

Human rights groups and the Catholic Church have condemned the death sentences, urging the government to abolish capital punishment for any crime. The DRC has a history of commuting death sentences to life imprisonment, but the recent lifting of the moratorium signifies a shift in policy.

This development highlights the severe measures being adopted to address military failures and restore order in the war-torn eastern region of the country.​

Kenyan police said they have arrested more than 270 people masquerading as protesters who are suspected of going on a criminal rampage during anti-government rallies on Tuesday.

Widespread looting and property damage were reported during the youth-led demonstrations in various cities across the country, which some protesters said had been infiltrated by “goons”.

“Security forces across the country singled out suspects found engaging in criminal activities in the guise of protesting, and took them to custody,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, late Tuesday.

It said a total of 204 suspects were arrested in the capital, Nairobi and another 68 in various other areas of the country.

“The DCI has further deployed scrupulous investigators across the affected regions to pursue suspects captured on CCTV cameras and mobile phone recordings violently robbing, stealing and destroying the properties and businesses of innocent citizens,” the statement added.

Tuesday’s demonstrations began in an atmosphere of calm but later degenerated into violence, with police firing tear gas at rock-throwing crowds in Nairobi and scenes of looting and property damage in the capital and other cities.

Kenya was bracing on Tuesday for fresh protest action against the government after anti-tax hike demonstrations last month descended into violence that left dozens of people dead.

Activists have stepped up their campaign against President William Ruto despite his announcement last week that he would not sign into law a controversial finance bill that triggered what he has branded “treasonous” protests.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said on Monday that 39 people had been killed and 361 injured during two weeks of demonstrations, and condemned the use of force against protesters as “excessive and disproportionate.”

Largely peaceful rallies against a raft of tax increases — led by mostly young Gen-Z Kenyans on social media — turned into shocking scenes of deadly chaos on Tuesday last week when lawmakers passed the deeply unpopular legislation.

After the announcement of the vote, crowds ransacked the parliament complex in central Nairobi and it was partly set ablaze as police fired live bullets at protesters.

Ruto had said in a television interview on Sunday that 19 people had lost their lives, but defended his decision to call in the armed forces to tackle the unrest and insisted he did not have “blood on my hands.”

It is the most serious crisis to confront the president since he took office in September 2022 following a deeply divisive election in a nation often considered a beacon of stability in a turbulent region.

Ruto’s decision on Wednesday to reverse course and scrap the tax legislation has appeared not to have appeased his critics.

And despite him saying he was ready to talk with young Kenyans about their grievances, activists have vowed to pursue their protests, with leaflets posted on social media calling for more action this week.

“We will not relent until William Ruto unconditionally resigns,” insisted one leaflet with the hashtag “RutoMustGo”.

It declared both Tuesday and Thursday public holidays for an “OccupyEverywhere” movement and called on all Kenyans to stage sit-down protests on major roads in the country on those days.

• ‘Unwarranted violence’ –
  The state-funded KNCHR said Monday that in addition to the dead and injured in the previous protests, there had been 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances” and 627 arrests of protesters.

“The Commission continues to condemn in the strongest terms possible the unwarranted violence and force that was inflicted on protesters, medical personnel, lawyers, journalists and on safe spaces such as churches, medical emergency centres and ambulances,” the KNCHR said.

It also said it “strongly condemns the violent and shocking acts of lawlessness that was exhibited by some of the protesters” including attacks on the parliament and other government buildings.

The body also highlighted what it said were “unacceptable” incidents of the “wanton destruction” of property linked to some politicians and threats and violence against them.

Kenya’s cash-strapped government had said previously that the tax increases were necessary to fill its coffers and service a massive public debt of some 10 trillion shillings ($78 billion), or about 70 per cent of GDP.

Ruto had already rolled back some tax measures after the protests began, prompting the Treasury to warn of a gaping budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings ($1.6 billion).

In Sunday’s interview, Ruto warned that the government would have to borrow another $7.7 billion because of the decision to drop the finance bill.

At least 30 people died in protests in Kenya this week sparked by a government drive to substantially raise taxes in the East African country, Human Rights Watch said Saturday.

“Kenyan security forces shot directly into crowds of protesters on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, including protesters who were fleeing,” the NGO said in a statement.

“Although there is no confirmation on the exact number of people killed in Nairobi and other towns, Human Rights Watch found that at least 30 people had been killed on that day based on witness accounts, publicly available information, hospital and mortuary records in Nairobi, as well as witness accounts,” the statement said.

“Shooting directly into crowds without justification, including as protesters try to flee, is completely unacceptable under Kenyan and international law,” said Otsieno Namwaya, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“The Kenyan authorities need to make clear to their forces that they should be protecting peaceful protesters and that impunity for police violence can no longer be tolerated,” Namwaya added.

The largely peaceful rallies turned violent on Tuesday when lawmakers passed the deeply unpopular tax increases following pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

After the announcement of the vote, crowds stormed the parliament complex and a fire broke out in clashes unprecedented in the history of the country since its independence from Britain in 1963.

President William Ruto’s administration ultimately withdrew the bill.

-IMF pressure –
The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said it had recorded 22 deaths and 300 injured victims, adding it would open an investigation.

“Eight military officers came out and just opened fire on people. They killed several people, including those who were not part of the protests,” HRW quoted a rights activist in Nairobi as saying.

“Kenya’s international partners should continue to actively monitor the situation… and further urge Kenyan authorities to speedily but credibly and transparently investigate abuses by the security forces,” the rights watchdog said.

Ruto had already rolled back some tax measures after the protests began, prompting the treasury to warn of a gaping budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings ($1.6 billion).

The cash-strapped government had said previously that the increases were necessary to service Kenya’s massive debt of some 10 trillion shillings ($78 billion), equal to roughly 70 percent of GDP.

The Washington-based IMF has urged the country to implement fiscal reforms in order to access crucial funding from the international lender.

“The bill was expected to raise an additional $2.3 billion in the next fiscal year, in part to meet IMF requirements to increase revenues,” HRW said.

“Widespread outrage should be a wake-up call to the Kenyan government and the IMF that they cannot sacrifice rights in the name of economic recovery,” Namwaya said.

“Economic sustainability can only be achieved by building a new social contract that raises revenues fairly, manages them responsibly, and funds services and programs that protect everyone’s rights.”