"Marching in Circles or Toward Change? Kenya's Protest Dilemma"

The government has failed to address the broad range of grievances. Now people are out on the streets in protest. 

On June 25, 2024, Kenyans, especially young people from across the country, took to the major urban streets to express their displeasure with President Ruto's plan to raise taxes on a wide range of basic commodities, which threatened to worsen their living conditions. The protest was also necessitated by Parliament, especially by legislatures hailing from the Kenya Kwanza coalition, to pass the controversial 2024 Finance Bill despite the rejection by a wide section of Kenyans.  The protest culminated in Kenyan youths thronging the Kenyan Parliament, a first-time historical moment for Kenyans. President Ruto responded with statements condemning the acts as the work of anarchists, and the police worsened the situation through high-handedness, resulting in the extrajudicial killing of more than 60 protesters. 

Internal pressure led him to dissolve his cabinet, withdraw the contentious Finance Bill and lastly, promise reforms, especially concerning how leaders conduct themselves publicly and how they communicate to the populace. It should be noted that the President won the 2022 General election on a platform of uplifting the “hustler’ from the peril of poverty, but continued display by the President and his close associates of opulence especially through purchases of expensive cars, donning luxury brands and international trips which rubbed the populace in a wrong way. 

The President had ended subsidies on Maize flour, a staple food for the majority of Kenyans and ended Kazi kwa Vijana - an employment initiative adopted by his predecessor to create employment for youths in informal settlements.

The protests saw the Inspector General resigning and the army being deployed in the streets of Nairobi to “deal” with a wave of protests roiling the country. In late June, protesters from across the country began protest actions. Their central demand: Withdrawal of Finance Bill 2024 and resignation of President William Ruto's cabinet for failure to resuscitate the country from mounting debts that have worsened Kenyan living standards. The Final bill proposed,  aimed to introduce a wide range of taxes on basic commodities like bread, airtime and Sanitary pads. Protesters argue that the taxes on basic commodities will worsen their already deteriorating living conditions, and hence, they won’t be able to meet their basic needs.

Now, one year after the June 2024 Protests, Kenyans are still dissatisfied with how the President handled the economy, and with how the Kenyan Police architecture, which includes the DCI, Kenya Police and IPOA, has dealt with investigations related to abductions, enforced disappearance of protestors and extrajudicial killings. 

The renewed call for protests has remained at the top of national news headlines for weeks, in part because the police have continued to carry out unlawful arrests, detentions and recently extrajudicial killings.  In May this year, after the release of the BBC documentary dubbed “Blood Parliament”, the police arrested 4 filmmakers who were alleged to have contributed to the airing of the documentary. This month, Kenya’s criminal investigating organ-DCI continued its high-handedness, aided by the controversial Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, to trace and arrest a 31-year-old teacher and blogger named Albert Ojwang. The young teacher was driven from his village in Homabay County to Nairobi County over a distance covering more than 350 kilometres. The complaint, which was lodged by Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat, accused him of publishing false information that aimed to character assassinate the Deputy Inspector General. His body was found lying in the Nairobi County-operated Funeral home in what the Police spokesperson termed as death caused by the late hitting his head while in the cell.  Autopsy results, however, revealed this was not factual, and the Police Inspector General was forced to withdraw and apologise to the nation in a press release by the Police force.  

Adding salt to injury, less than a week from the reported chilling murder of the young man, two policemen were pictured in Nairobi streets directing bullets at an innocent young hawker selling masks in the streets of Nairobi. The incident occurred in a protest,  demanding the resignation of the Deputy Inspector General to pave the way for Kenya’s independent Police Oversight Authority(IPOA) to conduct its investigation independently, since the DIG was an interested party in the matter. 

What generated this wave of sustained mobilisation? 

Shared, overlapping grievances

Protests have always been unpopular in many parts of the world. In the US and UK, protests in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza have been labelled as antisemitic.  In the UK, Britain's former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went as far as labelling the protestors as “mobs” and has even warned his fellow politicians against taking part in such protests, which he deemed undemocratic. Kenya has not been left behind in such labelling, where protestors have been labelled as “anarchists” and “goons”. In the previous year, they were dubbed as “Young middle-class kids” or  “TikTok fanatics” and who “enjoy KFC and use Uber”, hence implying they are not aware of the issues facing poor citizens. 

In the history of Kenya’s protests, many people, even those sympathetic to a cause, never participate in protest activity. That said, the larger the pool of sympathisers, the larger the pool of potential protesters. Last year’s and this year’s protests in Kenya are fuelled by a broad sympathy pool. Among Kenyans, the continuous impunity displayed by the Police and now the increased use of the 2018 Cyber and Misinformation Act to quell dissent have become highly unpopular.  

While the recent killing of Albert Ojwang and the shooting of the young hawker selling masks in the streets of Nairobi have fuelled the recent protests, Kenyans and young people have a multitude of grievances. Since 2024, in addition to protesting the 2024 Finance Bill, Kenyans in various parts of the country have either protested in their respective counties, especially those that raise levies or forced them to relocate their businesses elsewhere without offering alternatives or National government action. Kenyans likewise protested against the Finance Bill 2023 and have also increasingly embraced the use of social media as an avenue of public participation to register their views on controversial bills like the recent Finance Bill 2025  that the Finance Committee of the National Assembly had to revise and drop some of the taxes proposed by the National Treasury. 

The overlapping grievances have increased the sympathy pool and generated momentum as new groups joined the protests.

What’s Next? 

As sociologist Paul Almeida explains, a central factor “increasing the probability of individual participation in social movements is past protest experience.” This is particularly true if the movement successfully achieved its goals. In part, protest experiences serve to create feelings of efficacy. And social psychological research suggests that people are more likely to participate in a protest when they believe it can successfully address their grievances. 

Kenya’s history of successful mobilisation, some quite recent, has been in the past heralded by analysts as a great example of its exemplary democracy. 2002 election, Kenyans were hailed as the most optimistic people in the world, only for the country 3 years later to return to violence and ethnic clashes. 

In 2010, Kenya passed a constitution that was hailed as one of the most progressive in the world. But 15 years down the line, the idea Kenyans had of the police force being at their service seems elusive. The police have continued to operate with impunity while other constitutional offices that were supposed to be independent have continuously been turned to be appendages of the Presidency. 

Kenyans in 2013 elected two ICC indictees despite being adversely mentioned in post-election violence reports. The election of the duo hailed as Kenya’s asserting its sovereignty has turned out to be the “lost decade” since under the two leaders rule (Uhuru Kenyatta,2013-2017 & William Ruto, 2022- ), Kenya has accumulated debts amounting to 65% of Kenya’s GDP, Kenya's Debt Misery.

It’s then imperative that the current desire for change, fuelled by youths’ protest, is also transferred to the ballots come 2027. The 2027 general elections provide Kenyans with an opportunity to salvage the country from the shackles of elites who have proven to only look out for their interests but lack the imagination that is needed to transform the economy into an economic hub of East Africa that was envisaged in Vision 2030. The populace needs to elect leaders who are ready to serve them and be accountable for the promises they made. When the government falters, the citizens will always push back, and hence, this may turn out to be a cyclic phenomenon in Kenya’s governance journey.

Lastly, it’s also important to note that the road ahead is bumpy for whoever wins the 2027 election. The Kenyan President will be faced with a daunting task of debt obligations, reforming the police and balancing development needs for all Kenyans.

Photo credit: Protesters at an antigovernment demonstration in Kitengela, Kajiado county, Kenya, July 16, 2024 [Monicah Mwangi/Reuters]