Kenya protest death toll climbs to two
Protestors hurl stones at a police vehicle in response to the convoy of opposition leaders led by Raila Odinga being tear gassed by police during demonstrations against the high cost of living in Nairobi on July 7, 2023. |AFP
What you need to know:
Police on Friday fired tear gas in the capital Nairobi, targeting Odinga's convoy, and took similar steps against demonstrations in the cities of Mombasa and Kisumu
The number of people killed in protests in Kenya rose to two on Saturday, a hospital official told AFP, after opposition leader Raila Odinga urged Kenyans to take to the streets against tax hikes.
Police on Friday fired tear gas in the capital Nairobi, targeting Odinga's convoy, and took similar steps against demonstrations in the cities of Mombasa and Kisumu.
"We had another death at the casualty now bringing the number of deaths to two as a result of demonstrations yesterday," said George Rae, the CEO of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching & Referral Hospital in Kisumu, an opposition stronghold on Lake Victoria.
On Saturday, police used tear gas on civil society representatives, including former chief justice Willy Mutunga, who were demanding the release of dozens of people taken into custody during the protests, campaigners said.
"It is not justified at all for police to hurl tear gas at us when we have come peacefully to seek the release of innocent activists detained in the cells since yesterday", said advocate Lempaa Suyianka.
"Some of them were even injured and they require medical attention," he told reporters.
Rights groups including Amnesty International's Kenya chapter condemned the police on Friday for carrying out "arbitrary arrests" and using "excessive force" in the latest round of protests.
Odinga's spokesman Dennis Onyango told AFP on Saturday that his Azimio alliance plans to hold "at least one (protest) every week", with the next one expected on Wednesday.
The 78-year-old lost the August 2022 election to Ruto and has repeatedly denounced the poll as "stolen".
Last week, Ruto signed into law a finance bill expected to generate more than $2.1 billion for the government's depleted coffers and help repair the heavily-indebted economy.
The Finance Act provides for new taxes or increases on basic goods such as fuel and food and mobile money transfers, as well as a controversial levy on all tax-payers to fund a housing scheme.
Government says the taxes will help create jobs and reduce public borrowing.
The Nairobi high court last month suspended implementation of the legislation after a senator filed a case challenging its constitutional legality.
But Kenya's energy regulator nevertheless announced a hike in pump prices after the doubling of VAT to 16 percent as stipulated in the law.
