29-June-2024

Kenya’s President William Ruto, bowing to pressure from an angry public, rejected the contentious Finance Bill 2024 in its entirety and called for austerity measures to compensate for the potential revenue shortfall in his Ksh3.99 trillion ($30.93 billion) budget for the 2024/2025 fiscal year.

The decision came in the crescendo of a public outrage over high taxation.

The Parliamentary Committee on Finance had put the amount to be raised from the taxation measures contained in the bill at Ksh302 billion ($2.34 billion).

The withdrawal of the proposed revenue law came even after the government announced on June 18 the shelving of several new taxes and suspension of others costing the exchequer an estimated Ksh200 billion ($1.55 billion).

Public demonstrations marked by deaths, injuries, looting and destruction of property kicked off across the country.

Funerals begin for demonstrators as protests continue in Kenya

Crowds of Kenyans are gathering for funerals and continued protest across the country. At least 27 people were killed in violent demonstrations that started over a controversial tax bill are now demanding the president’s resignation and government reforms

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