Young people have largely led the movement against the finance bill, using social media to galvanize protesters using the hashtag #RejectFinanceBill2024. Young people who voted for Ruto in 2022 praised his promises of economic relief. Now, those who are protesting say that they feel betrayed.
“I fell for his lies,” one voter, Oscar Saina, told The A.P. “Now I’m out here regretting why I voted for him.”
Protesters set part of the Parliament’s main entrance on fire, marched with the Kenyan flag and chanted “Ruto must go,” The New York Times reported.
Along with Amnesty International, several other organizations like the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Kenya Law Society have accused police of abducting dozens of Kenyans. Faith Odhiambo, president of the law society, has decried the alleged abductions in a string of posts on X and the group condemned Ruto.
“Every Kenyan today who has lost his or her life in the struggle to stamp out corruption and seek economic liberation lies in the hands of a rogue and inconsiderate President,” the law society said in a statement that Odhiambo shared on social media.
Ruto was attending an African Union retreat outside Nairobi on Tuesday and has not publicly addressed the day’s protests.
Through tears, Auma Obama on Tuesday urged Kenyan leaders to listen to the young protesters.
“How can you tear-gas your own people?” she asked. “Listen to them. Listen to these children, they’re the future.”
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