Nairobi police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters on Tuesday as fresh demonstrations against President William Ruto began. Activists had called for a “total shutdown” of Kenya to pressure Mr Ruto to resign.
Although weeks of sometimes violent protests have seen Mr Ruto withdraw a $2.7 billion tax hike and sack almost his entire cabinet, demonstrators continue to accuse the president of misgovernance, corruption and the deaths of more than a dozen people after police violently cracked down on protesters.
Protests, led mainly by youth, also took place in Kitengela and Mombasa on Tuesday, with chants of “Ruto must go” and “Stop killing us”.
Reuters journalists on the ground described the protests as among the largest yet, suggesting that public anger is showing no signs of abating.
Kenya’s debt crisis tests President Ruto
The waves of protests are the first major test for Mr Ruto since he came to power in 2022.
Kenya’s National Human Rights Commission said Tuesday that 50 people had been killed so far, mostly in Nairobi. The organization added that 413 others had been injured and called for a “zero tolerance directive on human rights violations” for security forces.
Mr Ruto’s office had announced “multi-sectoral” talks for this week to address grievances raised by the protesters, but has given no sign of going ahead with the plan.
Currently, Kenya has to spend about 30% of its government revenue on its crippling debt level, and its citizens are suffering from soaring living costs.
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