Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has now pointed an accusing finger to the west, linking the ongoing #RejectFinanceBill2024 protest to Kenya’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war.
According to Mwaura who addressed a press conference on Saturday, June 22, powerful international players have splashed money to fund the Gen Z protests.
The government spokesperson noted that this is due to President William Ruto’s support for Russia following its invasion of Ukraine which sparked conflict.
He did not clarify the support for Russia referenced in his address as Kenya has been clear in its support for Ukraine to end the war.
During the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland on June 16 2024, Kenya offered support to Ukraine with President William Ruto agreeing to set up grain hubs in the Port of Mombasa for agricultural produce from the nation.
“Gen Z please listen to me, there are genuine people who are asking genuine questions but there is a group somewhere if I look keenly from afar there could be a foreign hand into this issue.
“The other day he spoke about Russia's invasion. He stated that it is affecting us even though we cannot receive wheat flour from Russia because we do not produce enough here in Kenya. There are people with problems with that,” Mwaura alleged without mentioning the powers that are not happy.
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Ruto and Kenya's position on global issues
He also linked the alleged funding of Gen Z protests to Ruto and Kenya’s position on a number of international issues, key among them climate change and claimed that the West was not happy with Ruto’s plan to reduce over-reliance on the United States dollar.
“This is because our president has spoken many things about us internationally. He has said that we must counter climate change and rallied the whole of Africa together and maybe some people are not happy.
“Also look at the de-dollarisation. If the dollar is strong, it affects our economy negatively. He (Ruto) said we find new finance infrastructure internationally,” Mwaura implored.
Claims of debt & slavery and calls for accountability
Without providing accurate figures to back his claims, Mwaura claimed that when an African country takes a loan from international financial institutions, the payment is 8 times higher than when a developed country takes the same loan.
“That makes it extremely difficult to pay those loans. That is why we are in a debt trap. We take 48 per cent of what we collect and pay those people. They would not want us to get out of that slavery,” he alleged.
Government officials have been throwing vague claims of Kenya servicing its debt from taxes collected without coming clean on how much is the debt, how much has been paid and how much is remaining while encouraging Kenyans to embrace new taxes.
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The recent wave of protest has however seen Kenyans seek clarity on how taxes collected are put into use before introducing new ones.