A Democracy Faltering? By: Nicholas Evers

In 2024, the Kenyan President, William Ruto, pushed the 2024 Finance Bill through parliament.[1] He did so despite protests from a youth led movement.[2] This new finance bill was part of a larger package that was set to increase domestic tax revenue by roughly $2.7 billion, and it was intended to cut back on the budget deficit and pay interest on the national debt.[3] The reason for the pushback was because of the already high cost of living that a majority of the nation is dealing with.[4] There was initial pushback to the bill that resulted in the President recalling certain portions of the bill, but despite the obvious unhappiness of the people, President Ruto still decided to move forward with the Bill.[5]

Initially, the protests started when the Finance Bill was made public for the first time.[6] This led young Kenyans to organize protests on social media that finally resulted in peaceful protests starting Nairobi that eventually spread to the rest of the country.[7] These protests remained peaceful for weeks, but as President Ruto continued to force the Bill through Parliament, the unrest grew.[8] Despite the growing protests, President Ruto pushed for a vote on the Bill.[9] This resulted in the opposing political party storming out of Parliament and a further escalation in the protests.[10] President Ruto held strong in his desire to pass the bill, and despite the escalation, the law was voted on and passed through Parliament.[11] This immediately led to a deadly escalation of the already existing protests.[12] Following the passage of the Bill, protestors around the nation were ordered to disperse.[13] Despite this, the protestors continued to make their voices heard, and this eventually led the Kenyan Police to attempt and forcibly disperse the crowds using tear gas and water cannons.[14] These measures ultimately failed, and the as the protesters grew angrier, the police chose to resort to more drastic measures.[15] The Kenyan Police chose to fire into the crowd once the other methods of dispersing the crowds failed.[16] This resulted in at least five people dying and at least thirty-one others sustaining some form of injury.[17] Some reports claim that as many as twenty three people died during the protests.[18] Although the police chose to fire into the crowd, the crowds refused to disperse, and they eventually stormed Parliament.[19] This resulted in portions of the building being ransacked, destroyed, and even lit on fire.[20] Along with this, the protesters were calling for the resignation of President Ruto.[21] This resulted in the government declaring security emergency, deploying the Kenyan army, and President Ruto condemning the continuing protests.[22] This was the worst of the protests, but there were also clashes between protesters and police around the country.[23]

Following the deadly protests, President Ruto finally decided to scrap the Finance Bill, but the damage had already been done.[24] President Ruto said that the people have made their desires obvious and that he would not directly oppose the will of the people.[25] Despite these comments, some analysts wonder why it took the protests turning deadly for President Ruto to understand the desires of the people.[26] Along with this, some Kenyan analysts believe that if President Ruto had scrapped the Finance Bill a few days earlier, then there would not have been death and destruction across the country.[27] The protesters share the same opinion, the scrapping of the Finance Bill is too little too late.[28] In light of this, the protesters are still holding demonstrations in the wake of the disaster.[29] These subsequent protests call for the resignation of President Ruto and in some protesters opinion, a need to occupy the State House in Nairobi.[30] In the wake of the deadly protests, President Ruto reintroduced the Bill to Kenyan Parliament with the intention of deleting all the clauses and letting the Bill die.[31] Although the Bill was never signed, the protesters never other demands never came to fruition, President Ruto is still in power and there is a lack of trust in him at this point.[32]

The status in the country leaves both the president and the people in a precarious position.[33] For President Ruto, he needs to find a way to balance the demands of the people who are struggling to afford the cost of living, and the holders of the national debt who are attempting to have the country cut deficits and reduce spending.[34] Along with this, the people have a well-earned distrust in the government at this point in time.[35]

This series of events left many things uncertain, but it is clear that Kenya is in a relatively unstable period of time, and there needs to be some caution from the current government if they want to balance the desires of the debt holders and the concerns of the people.[36] These events indicate a risk to one of Africa’s most stable democracies, and if the government continues to force unpopular policies on the people, there are questions about the future of stability in Kenya.[37] This decline in stability has been noted by the Human Rights Watch, but only time will tell if this is an isolated incident or a precursor to a more dire situation for the people and government of Kenya.[38]

[1] Rodney Muhumuza, Here’s what led Kenyans to burn part of parliament and call for the president’s resignation, AP News (June 27, 2024), https://apnews.com/article/kenya-protests-president-taxes-economy-8759a7aaaf63483caadba0f89ea1305f.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Kenya shocked as protests over finance bill turn deadly in Nairobi, Al Jazeera (June 26, 2024), https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/6/26/kenya-shocked-as-protests-over-finance-bill-turn-deadly-in-nairobi.

[12] Id.

[13] Ross, Obulutsa, & Paravicini, Police fire on demonstrators trying to storm Kenya parliament, several dead, Reuters (June 25, 2024), https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/young-kenyan-tax-protesters-plan-nationwide-demonstrations-2024-06-25/.

[14] Id.

[15] Id.

[16] Id.

[17] Id.

[18] Busari, Kent, Princewill, & Madowo, Kenyan President Ruto withdraws controversial finance bill following deadly protests, CNN (June 26, 2024), https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/africa/kenyan-president-rejects-finance-bill-intl/index.html.

[19] Supra note 13.

[20] Supra note 13.

[21] Supra note 13.

[22] Supra note 13.

[23] Supra note 13.

[24] Supra note 18.

[25] Supra note 18.

[26] Supra note 18.

[27] Supra note 18.

[28] Supra note 18.

[29] Supra note 18.

[30] Supra note 18.

[31] Supra note 13.

[32] Supra note 13.

[33] Supra note 13.

[34] Supra note 13.

[35] Supra note 13.

[36] Supra note 13.

[37] Supra note 1.

[38] Kenya Events of 2024, Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/kenya (last visited Apr. 21, 2025).