Kenya is now stable: Ruto says as he insists misinformation led to anti-gov't protests

Speaking in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, the president explained that the protests would have been avoided had the government sensitised the public on their policies and strategies to raise revenues. 

He added the country is trying to avoid an economic crisis by managing debt levels while at the same time collecting more revenue to keep government services operational. 

The president pointed out that his administration is working towards striking the balance, terming that the country is now stable owing to the already instituted fiscal policies.

"Most of the situation that you saw, part of it was occasioned by misinformation, fake news and other aspects of protests. More explanation is going into our strategy going into the future," he explained. 

"We're working with the international community to find concessional funding to manage our situation. Inflation is down from 9 to 4.3 per cent. Our exchange rate is now stable and we can do more going forward without pushing too hard. Kenya is now stable, we're moving into the future in a predictable orderly manner because we're a democracy."

Further, the head of state alleged that criminal gangs infiltrated the protests to propel violence and destroy property, prompting police to intervene and contain the chaos. 

Despite the law enforcement officers receiving wide criticism over their actions during the protests from Human Rights Groups, the president noted that their actions prevented the country from plunging into further crisis.

"For your information, Kenya is a robustly democratic country. Protests are part of our democracy. The freedom of people to associate and to choose what to do and that is perfectly in order and restoring law and order is also the responsibility of law enforcement agencies," he remarked. 

"What was in Nairobi apart from the protests were criminal gangs that burned down parliament, that burnt down the CJ's office, burnt down people's property. Those like happens everywhere in the world had to be managed by our security agencies," the president added. 

Human Rights groups have condemned police brutality witnessed during the protests, terming their actions as chaotic and uncoordinated.

They placed the fatalities at 61, a figure that Interior CS Kithure Kindiki disputed, claiming that 42 people died as a result of the protests. 

".. as I've said the government has nothing to hide. We cannot hide the fact that a Kenyan has died. What we need to do is to find the circumstances in which they died and if there's a culpability even by a security officer, we ensure that justice is served," Kindiki said.