Kenyan government deletes fiscal case clause! However, the demonstrations were still unable to quell

On July 25, local time, the Kenyan parliament voted to delete all 65 provisions of the 2024 fiscal bill, local media reported. Congressman Meng shared President Ruto's reservations about the bill and unanimously voted to delete all provisions, but still failed to quell Kenyan anger, followed by demonstrations in August.

It is understood that the Kenyan National Assembly voted on June 25 to pass a fiscal bill explicitly raising additional taxes to raise funds to continue to repay interest on high sovereign debt. The new tax increase will impose a 16% VAT on the purchase of bread, sugar transportation, the use of mobile communications and financial services, and foreign currency transactions.

But for the public, has been facing the pressure of life, that the government inaction, coupled with the tax increase incident, the capital Nairobi the same day anti-tax demonstrations broke out, protesters stormed the parliament building and clashed with the police. It is reported that it was originally a peaceful demonstration, but with the intervention of the Kenyan police, it gradually turned into violence.

After that, the government of Kenyan President Ruto chose a series of measures to quell the incident, first saying that it would not sign the fiscal bill and announcing that all serving cabinet ministers (CS) and the Attorney General (AG) had been dismissed except the Chief Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

In addition, Ruto's government also nominated four important members of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to the new cabinet, but according to Ruto's current nomination of 20 new cabinet members, about half of them were previously dissolved cabinet members, which further aroused the anger of the protesters.

As a result, protests and demonstrations have expanded during the month, ranging from opposition to value-added tax to a number of political demands, including the ouster of President Ruto, opposition to violent police crackdowns, and demands for comprehensive reforms to address corruption. And demonstrations were held not only in the capital Nairobi (Nairobi), but also in Mombasa (Mombasa), Nakuru (Nakuru), Kericho (Kericho), Kisii (Kisii) and Meru (Meru).

Moreover, due to the high unemployment rate in Kenya, many young Kenyans cannot find a job and have no employment prospects, so they have joined the demonstrations and become the main body of the protest.

In the recent protest on July 24, it was Kenyan journalists who held a nationwide protest, condemning police violence against media personnel covering anti-government demonstrations, resulting in dozens of journalists injured in the operation. And on July 26th, Kenya's transport sector also chose to strike and march because of illegal road maintenance fees.

So far, the protests have led to damage to several industries in Kenya, especially the country's important tourism and coffee industries. According to earlier reports, July is the viewing period for the great migration of animals, and it is also the peak tourist season in Kenya, but due to the outbreak of protests and demonstrations in many parts of Kenya, some lawbreakers took the opportunity to block and rob tourists, especially foreign tourists, even in the presence of the police. As a result, the Chinese Embassy in Kenya has also issued a notice reminding people to pay attention to tourism safety.

In addition, Kenya is one of the major coffee producing countries in Africa, attracting many coffee lovers and coffee traders, but there have also been demonstrations and conflicts in some coffee producing areas, resulting in reduced security risks and reduced travel, affecting the development and international influence of Kenyan coffee.

As for the coffee industry, an earlier reform of the coffee industry by the Kenyan government caused several coffee processing plants in Kenya to stop operating without permits (including the world-renowned NKG company) and laid off most of their employees, resulting in a large number of job losses. Due to the current outbreak of demonstrations in many places, many employees went to participate in the demonstrations, and some small factories experienced goods accumulation, manpower shortage, logistics challenges, and so on, resulting in a reduction in export volume and income at the same time. The development prospect of the coffee industry is uncertain.