The opposition party led Kenya’s 2023 tax protests — that’s not the case in 2024 | ACLED Insight

On 25 June, demonstrators stormed Kenya’s parliament and set part of the building on fire during the vote on the 2024 Finance Bill. Members of parliament managed to evacuate through an underground tunnel, but several people were killed when police fired both live and rubber bullets at the demonstrators.¹Aaron Ross, George Obulutsa and Giulia Paravicini, ‘Police fire on demonstrators trying to storm Kenya parliament, several dead,’ Reuters, 26 June 2024 

While the storming of parliament is unprecedented in Kenya, anti-tax hike demonstrations and a subsequent police crackdown also played out in July 2023. Those demonstrations, a reaction to the 2023 Finance Bill, were called by the opposition — Raila Odinga’s Azimio la Umoja party (Azimio) — and became highly partisan (see graph below). In contrast, the 2024 demonstrations followed youth-led social media campaigns employing hashtags like #OccupyParliament and #RejectFinanceBill2024. Participants in these demonstrations have included, among others, lawyers’ associations, labor groups, and student groups

The 2024 anti-tax demonstrations began on 18 June when hundreds of demonstrators marched in the capital, Nairobi, and Nakuru in Rift Valley to “occupy parliament” and demand that it reject the 2024 Finance Bill.²Evelyne Musambi, ‘More than 200 arrested in Kenya protests over proposed tax hikes in finance bill,’ Associated Press, 18 June 2024; Mohammed Yusuf, ‘Thousands of Kenyans demonstrate against proposed tax increases,’ Voice of America, 20 June 2024 President William Ruto has since announced that he will not sign the bill.³Stephanie Busari, ‘Kenyan President Ruto withdraws controversial finance bill following deadly protests,’ CNN, 26 June 2024 However, demonstrations continued the following day.⁴Basillioh Rukanga, ‘Kenya finance bill: Police fire tear gas as protests continue, BBC, 27 June 2024 

For more ACLED coverage of tax-related demonstrations see Kenya Situation Update: September 2023.

A previous version of this Insight did not reflect the central role of youth-led grassroots efforts in organizing Kenya’s 2024 tax-related protests. It has been corrected in this version.