by Nurat Uthman
Kenya deployed a heavy police presence Thursday ahead of President William Ruto’s state of the nation speech, which comes as he faces criticism over abductions, corruption and unpopular economic policies.
There were some calls online to protest Ruto’s speech in parliament.
But the energy behind the mass demonstrations between June and August, sparked by proposed tax rises, has petered out.
Rights groups say people have been cowed by the violent police response, which saw more than 60 killed during the protests, and a spate of abductions targeting organisers in the following months.
Human Rights Watch said this month that Kenyan security forces “abducted, arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and killed perceived leaders of the anti-Finance Bill protests”.
Ruto is making his third state of the nation address since taking office in 2022 with a pitch to help the country’s poor.
He has worked to forge close ties with Western countries and donors, but his room for manoeuvre has been severely limited by Kenya’s heavy debt burden, which surpassed $80 billion this year.
Like many African countries, Kenya is paying more in interest on that debt than it does for health and education.
Ruto introduced a Finance Bill this year to try to boost government coffers, but proposed tax hikes on basic items like bread, cooking oil and sanitary pads sparked the protests.
While economic growth has remained relatively strong, estimated at 5.4 percent last year, a third of Kenya’s 52 million people live in poverty.
