UNLESS whipped into line by the people and civil society, politicians on the African continent won’t stop taking the people for granted. That is the picture emerging from Kenya, where ongoing protests over unpopular tax legislation are fast morphing into an uprising against the government of President Williams Ruto. Last week, the largely peaceful rallies led by young protesters quickly degenerated into deadly violence after lawmakers passed the contentious #FinanceBill2024. The protesters torched the parliament complex in central Nairobi and in return, the police fired live bullets at them. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), at least 39 people were killed, and 361 injured, from June 18 to July 1 as the government sought to contain the protests. The commission added that there had been 32 cases of “enforced or involuntary disappearances” and 627 arrests of protesters, maintaining that it continued “to condemn in the strongest terms possible the unwarranted violence and force that was inflicted on protesters, medical personnel, lawyers, journalists and on safe spaces such as churches, medical emergency centres and ambulances.” The force used against the protesters, it said, “was excessive and disproportionate.” The protests are fast becoming the most serious crisis that President Ruto has had to contend with since his inauguration in September 2022.
The protests are ongoing as we speak and the casualty figures, currently double the intitial figures bandied by the government, may yet swell. Regarding the tax bill, though, the protesters apparently won, as President Ruto hastily beat a retreat in the face of the worsening crisis and withdrew it. His words: “I will decline assent to the bill. It shall subsequently be withdrawn. I propose an engagement with young people of our nation to listen to their issues and agree with them on their priority areas of concern. I also propose that within the next 14 days, a multi-sectoral, multi- stakeholder engagement be held with a view to charting the way forward on matters relating to the content of the bill as well as auxiliary issues raised in recent days on the need for austerity measures and strengthening our fight against corruption. I direct immediate further austerity measures to reduce expenditure, starting with the Executive Office of the President and extending to the entire executive arm of government. I direct that operational expenditure in the Presidency be reduced to remove allocations for the confidential vote, reduce travel budget, hospitality and purchase of motor vehicles, renovations and other expenditures. I propose that equally, Parliament, the Judiciary and County Governments working with the National Treasury also undertake budget cuts and austerity to ensure that we do what I have always advocated for: that we live within our means.”
To say the least, the situation in Kenya is unfortunate. From the very onset, the people made their feelings about the proposed tax hikes known to the government but it apparently had other ideas. Sadly, among the dastardly fallouts of the protests, the completely avoidable killing of protesters casts the Ruto government in extremely negative light. President Ruto may continue to insist, as he has done already, that he has no blood on his hands, but the fact is that the killings took place under his watch and in the tense climate created by his intransigence and obvious lack of tact in managing the crisis that has continued to spread. The fact the police did not manage the situation well is quite evident: you just don’t fire live bullets at harmless protesters. But the overarching issue, the tax hikes, cannot be brushed aside. Policies, regardless of the arguments behind them, must have the proverbial “human face”. If anything, President Ruto ought to have been more circumspect and avoided trying to impoverish the people. The global economic downturn requires deeper reflection and more pragmatic actions, especially in a continent beleaguered by inept, visionless and conscienceless leadership with an acquisitive mentality and a rapacious appetite for profligacy.
What exactly were President Ruto and his accomplices in the parliament thinking when they tried to impose their will on the people even when the people, through demonstrations on the streets, had voiced their opposition to such imposition? Why take such a course of action, especially in the face of the glaring, outrageous and profligate expenditure by those in government and those associated with them? Why did they have to wait until the dastardly killing of defenceless protesters and the worldwide condemnation of such grotesque killing before bowing to public pressure and withdrawing the ignominious Finance Bill? The truth is that many African rulers, including in Nigeria, think that they are above the people and that they have the carte blanche to do whatever they like and impose whatever they will on the people. That is why Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, could publicly declare that irrespective of the people’s position on the issue, the Senate under him would go ahead to consider and approve any request for the purchase of new airplanes for the president and the vice-president, as if the country belongs to politicians. Did Akpabio realise that the so-called Kenyan legislators who, in spite of the people’s opposition, went ahead to pass the Finance Bill had to scamper into underground escape routes when the people showed up to confront them for their misguided deed? Why openly boast about defying the people to approve the purchase of new aircraft for the president and his deputy?
African rulers, just as it has been shown in Kenya, must come to the realisation that they owe their offices in trust and have to abide by the people’s opinion, and not seek to confront them with bullets when they protest some of their (politicians’) ignoble acts. It will be interesting to see how President Ruto, for instance, will go on from here with the loss of legitimacy attendant on his poor handling of the crisis spawned by the Finance Bill. His case should serve as a useful lesson to other African rulers intent on acting without regard to the declared interests of the people. Leaders must think before taking decisions, and must refrain from taking hasty decisions on matters of life and living.
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