Kenya Unrest Ground Report: Kenya Times' Editor Explains Violent Clashes Over Ruto’s Tax Bill

Hello there, this is me Anj Pandey and you are watching 1I English viewers for the last few days. The streets of Nairobi, that is the capital of Kenya is burning and the people there are protesting on the streets. The army has been deployed because an emergency has been declared and the streets are still in a very great turmoil. The people are still protesting against draconian law which they deemed that as draconian by the President William Ruto. A new tax bill which the people say is going to burden them even more at the time of an economic crisis. Today, to understand the situation better, we have got one person from the ground with us. We hope that this person is the perfect fit for that to understand and to delve into the analysis and all the things that whatever has happened for the last few days in Kenya. We have Mr. Ken Asika, who is the editor in chief of the Kenya Times. Thank you for joining us, Sir. Thank you, Mandy. Yes, Sir. Mr. Asika, firstly, a big thank you once again from the 1I team for joining us. Sir, without wasting further time, I would like just to ask you very important questions from there. What exactly is the situation for the last one week there emergency has been declared, the streets are still, we are watching the videos on YouTube, on Twitter. Whatever is happening, I would like you you to explain that. What fact is happening to the international viewers that what exactly is the situation even right now? Thank you. So as we speak at the moment, the situation is a bit tense in Nairobi. I spent around 30 minutes within the Nairobi Central business district just to move from one St. to another and trying to understand how the situation looks like. So it is a bit calm, but with with some tension because remember or the the protesters had vowed to March to State House today, Thursday, the 27th of June to press and push the government or rather the president to back off and and withdraw the the the controversial Finance Bill. But yesterday, just hours to this protest, the President went ahead and withdrew the Bill and actually sent a memorandum to the Parliament stating that he has withdrawn the bill and that all the clauses that that were controversial need to be deleted and therefore creating room for dialogue with the protesters. Remember, before yesterday, of course, the president had addressed the nation previous days and condemned the, the, the, the riots, or rather the, the violence that was witnessed on on Tuesday this week, where protesters actually stormed parliament, overpowered and reached security and strong parliament. And the aftermath was actually loss of death, loss of lies and, and a mess. It was so messy because these these protesters got into the chambers. Someone sat on the chairs of the speaker, took selfies within the the chambers. And in the process of retaliation and just trying to contain the situation. Police moved in and a number of deaths were reported. At least close to 20 people were confirmed dead. And that was Tuesday this week. But the protests have been going on for the last two weeks. Even last week they were. Yeah. So more than 20 people have died, as you stated, Sir, President William Ruto yesterday backed up from the clear that even I was watching that, that he's sending the bill back to the Parliament. He's sending the bill back to the Parliament for further negotiations and to understand, to make it more easy for the people to make the bill more convenient for them. But, Sir, however, most of the world, including here in India, many people still don't understand the specifics of the bill and why the people are enraged over that bill. Can you please elaborate a little specifics of this bill that why exactly the people are protesting? Why exactly the 54 million people of Kenya are worried about this bill? Well, so to just give you some context, so Kenya is really in a debt hole, what I what I can call a debt hole. Kenya is battling huge debts that have been accumulated for the past several years. And as a way of bridging that that gap and raising more revenue, the government has now turned on taxes. So the government wants to tax literally everything so as to raise money to pay the the debts, to pay for loans that were that I've already matured, that were utilized the previous regime. And that is where the problem is. So some of the yeah. So some of the actual components of the bill include taxes on bread. There was a proposal that that bread would be would be taxed, of course, in the process, in the process of these, I mean last week somewhere last week the government said that OK, we are, we are dropping, we are moving that proposal to tax bread. There was a proposal to tax even diapers and locally manufactured diapers, what they were calling equal levy. But after that pressure, the government, the government said no, we will only apply that equal levy on imports and not local manufactured products. There was even a suggestion to, to introduce what they were calling motor vehicle circulation tax, that every, every, every person who owns the vehicle will pay this certain, certain percentage to the state. And that would have imposed a lot of, a lot of chaos. We we saw even the insurance coming in and protesting and and and and so it is a huge concoction of of issues that are that are boiling at at this point. So the people felt like this is too much. Yeah, you want to raise more taxes but at the same time the level of wastage. You know, Kenya have no problem with paying taxes. Kenyans have a problem with over taxation and misuse of public resources. That is the main issue. Yeah, I get it, I get it, I get it. Sir, how do you see the world reaction on the Kenya violence? Are all the angles of this violence being covered or is there something that the world is actually missing? I know at the moment we have had reaction from across across the world, we have had reaction from the United States who had reactions from the UN. Of course, all these people condemning the excessive use of force and death that has been witnessed in Kenya. Even the African Union Commission has condemned the use of force. So the biggest concern here is the use of force and the shooting of protesters who are unarmed. And even before Tuesday, because Tuesday it was, it was something else, of course, they stormed parliament and what do you expect? The police to retell it. But last week we had cases of protesters who were unarmed that were shot dead. So that is also one of the angles that that have not been well taken care of and the kind of pressure probably Kenyans want to see more pressure being mounted on, on, on, on Nairobi or President Ruto to actually rein in and, and, and contain the situation and end the mass, the mass killing. So what has been, what has not been captured? Well, of course is the is the mass killing and the underlying, the underlying issues of corruption and wastage that makes the population or the public angry and infurious about all this? Well, as you said, it appears that Tuesday, whatever happened in the parliament was some sort of a catalyst. And after that the protest erupted all across the country after the capital Nairobi. We also got reports from other cities too. Sir, India being the USS closest non NATO ally. Do you think that Kenya's problem is somehow not going to impact Israel, Hamas and the Hezbollah conflict that is somehow making more headlines nowadays on the television and across the world? Well, so these decision in Kenya is coming at a time when just two days ago, of course, the US formally approved Kenya's a non NATO, NATO ally. And what that what that means is that Kenya now has a huge recognition in terms of International Security matters. And on the Gaza war and the situation in Gaza, President William Ritter has previously maintained this that Kenya supports Israel but Kenya does not support the use of military and use of force and mass killing of people to find a solution. President Ruto believes that military cannot be used to find a solution in Gaza. Also Kenyan administration believes that believes in A2 state solution. So when all this is happening and Kenya's teacher had just been elevated, you know, it's also paints the president and Kenya in bad light. And even to complicate matters more, it is is the issue of heightening. You know, we are we are experiencing riots and turning Kenya at a time when Kenya is actually deploying police to Haiti to contain the situation in the Caribbean nation. So look at the irony here. We have a country that has been elevated but is battling its own domestic issues and it's in a big mess. So yes, it it affects even the standing of Kenya on some of those International Security matters like finding solutions in Gaza and even hygiene and to a large extent even Ukraine. Definitely, Sir, we talked, Sir. Bhutto came to power in 2022 and actually with a mandate that was not seen in Kenya for many years, he came with a promise that he would uplift the people out of the economic crisis and he will lower the economic burden too. That was one of his election promises too. But Sir, in just two years, the people are protesting against him. The people are protesting against his law. So what do you see, Sir? Is the situation slipping out of his hand or will he make a comeback? Can he turn the tide? So looking at at President Roto, especially as as a politician, you know, he started in the early 90s as a youth, the government of the then President Daniel Moy, then heroes become a member of Parliament. The guy was so ambitious. Yeah, he became, he served as a minister in government. Then remember Ruto served as a deputy president for 10 years in the past regime. So when he came in, we must also remember that Ruto came in with a very slight win victory. It was around 202 hundred votes, 200,000 votes and it was contested up to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court upheld have to made mandate his victory. They're not wrong. Sure. So so he's he's he's coming to close to two years in office and this is happening. The president spent a lot of time in his first time actually criticizing the previous regime and blaming the previous regime for the high cost of living, unemployment and the dwindling shilling against the US dollar. So as a man who he is determined to win a second term, this can be very devastating and may have far reaching effect. Give it two years to come when Kenya or three years to come when Kenya goes to the polls, because the people, the young generation that is rioting today and protesting today, they'll probably be the majority voters. You know, they can rally behind one of them and, and, and vow to, to remove this, this government in office. So it is it, it is something that the, the, the root administration needs to address carefully because because it is a change of tide. Previously, we've seen all the generations actually going to the streets, but for the first time in the history of Kenya, we are having younger, younger generation going to the streets and just pouring out their anger and venting against the state. Yeah. So Sir, this means that he's up for a very daunting task in few days. Sir, one last question for you. Where does this situation now puts Rala Oringa, the opposition leader, because we saw that he today morning approximately at around 7:00 AM here in India, we saw his letter in which he wrote that the people of the children of Kenya are being attacked by William Bhutto's government. So do you believe that this can also catalyse for Raila's Uruga's rice? And do you see a change coming in the country in the next few years? What's your take on this? So Raila Odinga finds himself in a in, in, in a catch 22 situation. So this is a man with a rich history when it comes to Kenyan politics. So he served as prime Prime Minister. He he's a veteran and he in his late 70s. So, and even they are they are they are those who believe that he's still young enough to actually vie in the in the coming elections, of course, he'll be approaching 80. So Odinga is is I the African Union Commission, the chairperson position the government of President William Brutal has agreed to support his candidature and the government has unleashed state machinery to campaign for Mr. Odinga so that he secured he secured these is converted so to speak slot. But now with the protests in Nairobi, Odinga is is caught in between supporting Ruto who is fighting for his AU position and at the same time standing with the majority with the people and condemning and criticizing the government. So if you look at if you look at Odinga's letters and even positioning, he's not the Odinga. They're vibrant Odinga that we, we, we had maybe five years ago. He has spawned even in terms of how he's criticizing the government and what have you. So Odinga is likely to to go to the African Union Commission chair. He's likely to get that, although there is still competition. And that is the biggest prayer and hope for Ruto, that Odinga settles for that position, gets that position and becomes busy because, again, the position limits Odinga from engaging actively in local politics. So that will leave room probably for the president, the incumbent, to have what he may see as an easy ride to recapture the position. But in terms of change, what you've asked about seeing change around the corner, I think moving forward, the change that we're likely to see is the younger generation being involved more and more in matters governance and leadership because for a long time, the youth have been left on the periphery and most of the their issues have been represented by people in their 70s and in their 60s. But as things appear the moment, we're likely to see more and more dialogue that revolves around the younger population. And probably that's the change that we are likely to witness in the coming days. OK, Mr. Asika, a very big thank you and a very I appreciate your time for giving us, Captain, precious time to us for this issue. And I think no one could have explained this situation better to us to understand the Kenyan politics, to understand everything that is happening in Kenya right now. We were very curious and and once again, that's why I appreciate that you gave this precious time to us for this interview. Sir, thanks very much. And anytime I'm available, you can always reach out for updates on the situation in Nairobi. But fairly peaceful and calm and welcome to Nairobi. Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Of course, when I'll get time, I'll definitely visit that country. I've heard it's very beautiful. We hope for your safety, Sir. And we also hope that Kenya comes out of this problem very soon, as soon as possible. A big, big thank you, Sir, for this interview. Thank you very much. Thank you.