The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that it is closely monitoring the situation in Kenya following youth-led protests in rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024 and remains committed to helping the country overcome its economic woes.
In its first official statement since the protests, largely blamed on stringent terms imposed on Kenya's financial support, IMF said it is deeply concerned about the skirmishes that began last week culminating in a breach of the Parliament building in Nairobi on Tuesday. Several youth were killed during the Tuesday protests and scores of others were injured.
“The IMF is closely monitoring the situation in Kenya. Our main goal in supporting Kenya is to help it overcome the difficult economic challenges it faces and improve its economic prospects and the well-being of its people,” the statement by IMF Director of Communications, Julie Kozack, said.
Ms Kozack said the IMF was “deeply concerned” about events witnessed in Kenya in recent days leading to deaths, many injuries, and destruction of property. “Our thoughts are with all the people affected by the turmoil in the country.”
“We are committed to working together with Kenya to chart a course towards robust, sustainable, and inclusive growth,” she said.
Kenyan youth have taken to the streets since last week in a massive campaign to urge MPs not to pass a punitive Finance Bill that proposed additional taxes and levies on individuals and businesses, but the MPs remained adamant, passing the Bill on Tuesday amid protests occurring across 35 counties.
In Nairobi, the protests which were marked with a day of running battles between the police and thousands of youth culminated in a first-in-history event of the breaching Parliament premises, just moments after legislators had passed the contentious Bill.
Scores of youths sustained gunshot wounds as others were killed by police, with MPs forced to scamper for safety in a basement parking within the premises, as protesters gained access to facilities including the plenary.
But while the IMF official statement on Tuesday noted that the institution would “work together with Kenya to chart a course towards robust, sustainable, and inclusive growth” and stayed clear of discussing the issues, a senior official at IMF had on the same day told the Nation that the real problem was “luxury in government.”
“There is a lot of luxury in government, which we found to be the real cause of pain to the people. That can free up lots of money to go to the targeted social and development programmes,” the official, who spoke in anonymity said on Tuesday.
“There lies the problem and a solution lies within,” the official added.
The official said this even as President William Ruto- in a rare speech of concession to youth demands- while declaring that he would not assent to the Finance Bill, 2024, indicated that the casualty of not instituting the new taxes would be development projects that would be slashed by Sh200 billion, but remained silent on the recurrent expenses.
The youth have been on the streets complaining that despite punitive taxes imposed on businesses and workers since last year, the State is not implementing development projects.
In the 11 months to the end of May, the government had only spent Sh261 billion on development projects out of the original budget of Sh480 billion, despite the additional taxes in the Finance Act, of 2023.
