Via an address to the media, Kenya’s government spokesperson Mr. Isack Mwaura declared that property worth KSH. 6 billion were destroyed by looters who took advantage of the Nation wide youth led anti- government protests. Mwaura was speaking at Kenyatta International Convention Centre Thursday, in the backdrop of calls for cessation of the demonstrations from different sides of the political divide in Kenya. The protest were instigated by alleged punitive taxes included in the now rejected Finance Bill 2024, but mutated into calls for resignation of the incumbent president H.E William Ruto.
“According to Kenya Revenue Authority, the country has lost 6 billion because of the demos,” a loquacious Isaac Mwaura declared. If we continue like this, we are going to destroy people’s businesses and there will be no employment for our people,” he stated. “Some demonstrators have been peaceful, but there are criminals who obviously have taken advantage of the situation,”Mwaura said. We have agreed to have a dialogue, and I urge that these dialogues should begin from our homes,” the former senator declared. “Parents should speak to their children, so that we do not destroy our country,” he cajoled.
It is to be understood that the demonstration were dominated by youths, who according to information in the public domain were independently agitated by the wrong trajectory the country’s economy has assumed. Since they ensued a month ago, many in the streets were fresh graduates and University students, informing the sobriquet Gen-Z demonstrations. Prior to breaching both parliament and the supreme court, the protests were organized and peaceful, with flags and water bottles their only weapons.
Since, President William Ruto has acknowledged a number of their demands, including the dismissal of the entire cabinet and proposal of budget cuts to implement austerity measures. Mwaura assured the public that the president is alive to their agitations and continues to work around the clock to find solutions. “The president has listened and made efforts to address the concerns,” the former senator said, affirming that regardless of the economic hurdles caused by the pickets, the government’s key focus is to foster sustainable peace.
