President William Ruto of Kenya finally bowed to the yearnings and advocation of his people on Wednesday by refusing to assent to the controversial finance bill that introduced new taxes.
The Kenyan Parliament passed the bill on Tuesday, June 25, but Kenyan youths, who had held a series of street protests against it since it was sent to the parliament a week earlier, escalated their protest by forcing their way into the parliament and setting fire to a section of it as lawmakers fled for safety.
President Ruto, who has the final say on whether to accept or reject the bill, chose the latter on Wednesday, announcing his decision to withdraw it.
“I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” Ruto said in a televised address.
“The people have spoken,” the president asserted, adding that he would now start a dialogue with Kenyan youths.
Ruto did not go into detail about the dialogue, but he did imply that it would include austerity measures, starting with cuts to the cost of running his own office.
Many people who have watched the weeklong protests in Nairobi and other major cities around the country, which had resulted in the deaths of at least seven people by Tuesday, commended the president's submission.
Up until early Wednesday, Kenyans expected protests to continue if the presidency decided to implement the tax increases outlined in the finance bill.
57-year-old William Ruto has been president of Kenya, an East African country of about 48 million people, since September 13, 2022.
