Where Ruto went wrong on Gen Z anti-tax revolt

Anti-riot police officers rough one of the youths during the anti-finance bill protests on July 2, 2024. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

The recent wave of country-wide protests over the Finance Bill 2024 have exposed the underbelly of President William Ruto’s regime which was propelled to power by a wave of political rhetoric and populism.

In just under 20 months since assuming office, President Ruto’s stature amongst large sections of his ardent supporters has changed from “a man of the people” to “a man against the people.”

Celebrated Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, in his book,” A Man of the People”, chronicles political unrest in a fictional state in Africa while underscoring the feeling of anger and betrayal amongst the residents over unfulfilled promises.

During the campaign, Ruto attributed the government's failure to deliver service to his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta.

He promised the hustlers that he would turn around their economic fortunes under a year if elected.

The charismatic and eloquently speaking Ruto traversed the breadth and the width of the country selling his bottom-up economic model to the people which he touted as “the silver bullet” for the country’s economic problems.

The president had during the campaign period promised to implement a raft of measures that that would restructure the country’s economic model to support the less fortunate members of the society.

Ruto had proposed huge tax cuts, provision of loans to the youth to start businesses, support for university and secondary students, providing access for youth to free internet services, creating an enabling environment for content creators, and issuing passports and Identity Cards to youths at reasonable fees.

The protesters who carried placards and chanted anti-government slogans said that the president had breached all key pledges that were contained in his election manifesto.

An American journalist, historian, and author, Garry Wills, warned; ” It is not healthy for the society when the people hate their government.”

 As protesters viciously expressed their anger against the bill, they in equal measure voiced their concerns over corruption, imprudent use of public finances, lack of accountability, and opulence and extravagance amongst government officials.

Political observers opine that the demonstrations were an antidote to Ruto’s rhetoric and a litany of unfulfilled pledges with the Finance Bill 2024 being the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Anti-tax protestors in dance and song on the streets of Nakuru City, [Jeseph Kipsang, Standard]

The political pundits argue that the government had failed to correctly read the mood of the people and the mounting anger and tensions embedded in the stringent policies and taxation measures it has implemented over the past two years.

According to the political analysts, whereas Ruto ascended to office by advocating for an economic model that polarized different sections of society, the protesters had closed ranks and united in voicing their concerns.

Lawyer Hari Gakinya argues that the Ruto administration embarked on implementing policies that were in stark contrast with what he promised the balk of his supporters during the campaign.

Gakinya says; “The protesters reflect the cross-section of the entire Kenyan society, they are united in their call for an accountable government and respond to the aspirations of the people without regard to their ethnicity or social status.”

“The President had told the hustler nation that he would cut taxes, initiate programs to improve their socio-economic welfare, grant them loans to start businesses and provide free education and medical services,” the lawyer says.

He says the young people have legitimate constitutional concerns as they were questioning why the government should tax them and then allocate over Sh800 million to State House as a confidential vote, while also allocating huge sums of money to fund offices of the spouses of the president, the deputy president and the prime cabinet secretary.

“The funding of the offices of the spouses of the senior government officials raises constitutional issues about the legitimacy of the allocations as beneficiaries were not state officers,” Gakinya adds.

Nakuru-based human rights defender and governance expert, Joseph Omondi, says mounting economic challenges have exerted pressure on the lives of the people who continue to be angered by the government's move to impose stringent taxation and policy measures.

“The government came to power on the promise of alleviating the suffering of the people and creating an enabling environment for the growth of the businesses, creation of employment opportunities, and generation of wealth,” Omondi says.

He observes the protests were a culmination of adverse economic measures adopted by the government over the past two years to the chagrin of the people who felt betrayed.

The governance expert says running the government was an intricate task and the President ought to have come up with economic policies that did not upset the youth whom he had radicalized during the electioneering period.

Omondi adds: “At another level, the demonstration in our streets are a reflection of anger by citizens who are now holding accountable populist leaders for their apparent lack of solutions to complex problems facing the country.”

“The public was further hurt by the behaviour of leaders and the institutions of governance including the legislature who had failed to read their mood and arrogantly passed repressive tax measures,” he says.

The governance expert further says that there was a feeling amongst the people that the government was subjecting a form of service delivery due to corruption and extravagance among leaders.

Anti-tax protestors carry coffins as they stagged demonstrations in Nairobi CBD. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

According to him, the protests serve as a lesson for any leader who makes unrealistic promises to the masses while on the campaign trail as this would haunt him immediately after he ascended into office.

The protests which drew the largest multitudes of people in the streets of various cities and towns across 40 counties appear to have propelled the country into a new era of political activism by the masses.

The demonstrators who expressed anger at the conduct of members of parliament raised pertinent issues about the legitimacy and capacity of the legislature to articulate the concerns of the people.

The protests have also put into sharp focus the security agencies who unleashed terror on innocent citizens expressing their democratic right to free speech, lawful assembly, and right to petition the government.

The demonstrations which culminated in forcing the government to withdraw the contentious bill appeared to have opened a new chapter in the country’s governance with citizens dictating the terms of their engagement with the government.

Former Ndaragwa MP Mwangi Gichuki says the government should embrace “the concept of praxeology which is a science of human action that demands immediate needs be attended to first given the scarcity of resources in the society.”

“You cannot impose repressive taxes on the people to fund the extravagance of state officers and their spouses while cutting down on education and health budgets and expect the people not to express their anger,” Gichuki says.

He warns that the country was in danger of drifting into anarchy as the citizens were losing confidence and trust in the governance institutions due to corruption and wanton plunder of public coffers by those in public offices.

Gichuki adds: “The government exists to serve the people and not for the people to serve the government. Taxation is central to the social contract between the rulers and the ruled and it is unfortunate that Mps have abdicated their responsibility of representing the people and opted to go to bed with the executive leaving people vulnerable to oppressive tax regime.”

The former MP says the protesters were well-educated Kenyans who could interrogate government policies actions and budgeting processes and identify those that did not conform to established laws and regulations.

“Those MPs who were clapping as the president announced that he would not sign the bill can only be described as zombies as they were the same people who had passed it against the will of the people,” Gichuki says.

A governance expert, Paul Masese says the protests have ushered the country into another chapter of governance where the masses have demonstrated their power to force the government to withdraw punitive tax measures.

“He said it was unfortunate that the country’s leadership had allowed the situation to degenerate before taking positive action as the role of a democratic government is to listen to the will of the people,” Masese adds.

He says the protesters had raised pertinent issues touching on fundamental challenges facing the country including corruption, misuse of public funds and failure by the government to provide basic services.

“You do not demonize the citizens when they raise issues touching on their governance. The youths feel betrayed by the government which promised them many things and is now reneging on its pledges,” Masese says.

An accountant and taxation expert, CPA Joseph Nderitu, calls on the government to formulate tangible economic policies that address the concerns of the business community to revitalize the economy.

CPA Nderitu says many businesses were collapsing due to repressive government policies and tax measures hence reducing employment opportunities for youth in the economy.

“The government cannot attain its stated objective of creating employment for the youth without first addressing the challenges facing manufacturers, industrialists and owners of various corporate and small scale firms operating in harsh economic environment in the country,” CPA Nderitu says.