The great anti -government protests in Kenya, explained

For days in different cities of Kenya there are very participatory anti -government protests, despite the attempts of the Kenyan government to limit their journalistic coverage obscuring the television chronicles. Therefore, There were also clashes with the police, in which at least sixteen demonstrators were killed. Meanwhile, The reasons for the protests are all basically attributable to one thing: the widespread. Moreover, now lasting discontent towards the work of President William Ruto.

The Kenyan government has in fact contested since its settlement in 2022 for issues that have to do with its growing authoritarianism. For example, with the economy.

We take a step back. Similarly, three years ago, when Ruto was elected president among many accusations of fraud, but with an apparent wide support of the young people who today contest it. Nevertheless, Then Ruto promised to restore the state accounts. great anti -government protests kenya, For example, to reduce the enormous public debt, the tax deficit and above all to improve the economic conditions of the poorest and the middle class in difficulty for the increase in the cost of living. He also presented himself as a leader capable of giving political stability, and a reformer.

Some demonstrators move an injured person, June 25, 2024 (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

To achieve these objectives, however, in the last three years it has adopted unpopular measures, including an increase in taxes on different goods, such as bread, and the elimination of state subsidies for fuel. The protests of 2023 and 2024 had begun precisely to contest these measures. Second Giovanni Carbone. full professor of the University of Milan and great anti -government protests kenya, Head of the Africa ISPI program (Institute for International Political Studies), the protests were and are still “a conflict Between short -term perspectives (I can’t get to the end of the day) and the long -term ones (gradual improvement of roads, health, growth, work, etc.) ».

Last year protests have been the most participatory and violent so far. According to the Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights. 60 people were killed and 80 others were kidnapped by staff who believed to be part of the national security forces. The mobilization also had other consequences. First of all Ruto was forced to take a step back on the increase in taxes. in fact by withdrawing the previous measures. At the same time, however, he replied to the protests by force, causing further discontent.

The events to commemorate the events of 2024 have been added in recent days to other protests. always great anti -government protests kenya, directed against the government and started due to another violent episode: the murder of the 31 -year -old political blogger Albert Ojwang, arrested on charges of having defamed a policeman on social media and then found dead in a police plant in Nairobi, killed in a beating for which the security forces were accused Kenyan.

A protester with a sign that says «Will I be the next? We are not safe ». Nairobi, 25 June 2025 (Credit Image: © Boniface Muthoni/Sopa Images Via Zuma Press Wire)

Then there was a last, more recent element, which further strengthened the criticisms of the government. In the last few days Ruto has reintroduced the taxes on some essential goods. such as bread, in fact by great anti -government protests kenya, proposing the measures that had been forced to delete after the protests of 2024.

The latest events were commented on by Ruto very hard. The Kenyan president accused the demonstrators of being “tribalists without a plan”. added: “We cannot deliver the country to these people”. Many of the opposition exponents have interpreted this phrase (and others of similar tone pronounced by its allies) as a way to prepare public opinion to the fact that Ruto will try to remain in power in all ways. regardless of the result of the next elections, scheduled for 2027.