NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s new finance minister has announced that some of the tax proposals that sparked weeks of deadly protests earlier this year will be reintroduced through a tax amendment bill as the country struggles to raise revenue to pay off its debt.
John Mbadi’s announcement in an interview on local television broadcast on Sunday has already drawn criticism from some Kenyans whose anger over the rising cost of living led protesters to storm parliament to pressure President William Ruto to drop a controversial finance bill and sack most of his cabinet.
But now some of the proposals from that unpopular finance bill are back. Mbadi said the tax amendment bill will contain dozens of measures, including a tax on goods deemed not environmentally friendly.
“This country is not a garbage dump,” he said.
Critics had claimed the tax would increase the cost of goods such as sanitary pads and diapers.
The youth-led protest movement has already responded to the minister’s comments, announcing that demonstrations will continue across Kenya. Since the protests began in mid-June, more than 50 people have died, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission, amid allegations of police brutality.
Opposition MP Robert Mbui told a local television station on Monday that the plan to re-table certain proposals was a “mistake” and accused the new minister of “double-speak” after he said earlier this month he had no plans to raise taxes.
Kenya’s president defended the new taxes, saying the country needed to become self-sufficient and warned that withdrawing the previous bill would have consequences.
The protesters also demanded the president’s resignation, but Ruto said he would not comply.
