Protests in Kenya

 

Some of you might have seen in the news about the protests taking place in Kenya at the moment. Not surprisingly it’s been a key topic of conversation with those that I am spending time with here and I thought I’d share just a few reflections to add an extra perspective to what you might be reading. 

The protests are being called the GenZ protests as it is members of that generation who are really taking the lead in it all and who were the initiators of these protests. Certainly there are GenX and millennial supporters as well, but GenZ are the dominant demographic amongst those who are doing the protesting. 

The main topic that they are protesting about is the new finance bill that is going before Parliament and the effect that it will have on regular people. President Ruto was elected on promises of improving the financial situation for the lower classes in Kenya, but the bill going through will not do that. And that’s what the protests are about. 

Already some aspects of the bill have been put into effect, and it is hitting hard.

VAT, one of the main sources of tax in a country where many people earn money by informal means and so don’t pay salary-related tax, has gone up from 8% to 16%. 

The cost of fuel has risen from 150 ksh to 190 ksh per litre (roughly up from 95p to £1.20). The ripple effects of that hits not just those who can afford to own a vehicle but everyone who uses public transport to get around, or who wants to buy food and or anything else that is transported anywhere. Also anything that is linked to a factory which requires fuel to make it work. Prices of all commodities are rocketing everywhere. 

So, for example, a bag of sugar has gone up from 250 ksh to 360 ksh (via a brief time at 490 ksh). That’s from £1.50 to £2.20 or so. Other food items are going up at equally steep rates.

With so many people on such low wages (average wage here is £112 per month) it’s not surprising that frustrations are being vented. 

People can’t afford to start businesses, or income generating activities, or go to university anymore. The young adults are feeling like they are being hit very hard, and their prospects for the future are being impacted. 

I'm told that when this financial act was being devised, the government set up a load of public forums to allow the voice of the people to be included in the conversation. People felt that they were being consulted. The outcome was that 95% of those involved said that the Bill would not work, that it would result in more harm to regular people than it would help them. But did the government listen? It appears not, and that’s another reason why the protestors are on the march. They’ve given up with trusting the government and doing things democratically it seems. 

This is a lot of the stuff that’s being talked about just now. The demand for the government to totally cancel the bill, and to start again, but with members of the public being properly involved in the conversation. Not a token nod, but properly involved. Will it happen? Who knows?

What isn’t being talked about so much is the backdrop of national debt that has pushed Kenya to this point. Over the years Kenya, like so many other countries in the global south, has been given various loans by World Bank, national governments and institutions of the global north. The loans were for development and to help nations try and compete in an increasingly captialist and globalised world. The interest rates that were attached to those loans were outrageously high. As a result, Kenya, and all the other nations equally affected, have been locked in to paying back huge amounts of money to the lenders, to the detriment of the development of their own infrastructure. These countries have fully paid back many of the actual loans themselves but still they are having to service the interest payments, and will continue to have to do so for years to come. This is part of why they are in such a dire financial situation. Yes there has been misuse of funds along the way, but the obscene interest levels are a huge problem. And it’s the average Joe and Josephine who are paying the price. 

This injustice is not being included in the media coverage. It’s also not being mentioned that the interest rate for loans to other global north countries is way lower than the interest rates for global south countries. How is that ok? 

What is the way forward? Clearly president Ruto and his government can’t assume that things will settle down. GenZ are educated in politics in a way that previous generations weren’t. They are utilising social media to mobilise support in a way that hasn’t been done before. 

This is a protest that is beyond ethnicity, beyond class, beyond educational level, beyond city boundaries. This is a protest that is being supported by the wider Kenyan diaspora and is being watched by GenZ’s from many other nations who are also suffering the same financial injustices. 

Apparently one option for the government is to not get round to sorting any changes to the Bill for 21days because it will default become law after that. I really hope that they don’t choose that route - I get the sense that if they do then the protests that have been seen so far will be minor compared to what  might come. 

Could they just default on the loans? And if they do, and they get away with it - what about all the other nations that are equally struggling? Could there be a ripple effect of defaulting - and what would that amount to in practical terms?

I have no idea what will happen, there are various rumours but no one really knows. I just hope that what does come includes positive, respectful and meaningful interaction with those who are calling for change. And I really hope that those in the global north who have the ability to cancel the debts, and release these countries from the unjust situations in which they find themselves. take the brave step of cancelling those debts, and showing an act of justice at this time.

Prayers for Kenya, and for the other countries who are watching and wondering and waiting.