Members of the protest movement, which has no official leaders and largely organizes via social media, have rejected Ruto’s appeals for dialogue — even after he abandoned his proposed tax rises.
“People are dying in the streets and the only thing he can talk about is money. We are not money. We are people. We are human beings,” protester Milan Waudo told Reuters in Mombasa. “He needs to care about his people, because if he can’t care about his people then we don’t need him in that chair.”
Other protests took place in Kisumu, Nakuru, Kajiado, Migori, Mlolongo and Rongo, according to images broadcast on Kenyan television. In the southwestern town of Migori, protesters set tyres on fire.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) says 39 Kenyans have been killed in demonstrations and clashes with police since June 18. Most of the deaths took place on June 25 when officers opened fire near parliament where some protesters tried to storm the building to prevent lawmakers from voting on the tax hikes.
‘Beautiful day’
“We are determined to push for the president’s resignation,” said Ojango Omondi, an activist in Nairobi. “We hope for a peaceful protest and minimal casualties, if any.”
The authorities appealed for calm.
“It’s a beautiful day to choose patriotism. A beautiful day to choose peace, order and the sanctity of our nationhood,” State House communications director Gerald Bitok wrote on X on Tuesday, adding in Swahili: “Violence is not patriotism.”
Some activists who had called for the demonstrations deplored the unrest. “Goons have infiltrated,” Hanifa Adan, an activist and reporter for the Eastleigh Voice newspaper, wrote on X, followed by broken heart emojis.
