Hop, step and jump! Government officials' doublespeak on protests is perplexing

Their protest marches have been largely devoid of violence, full of real-time coverage as they utilized their smart phones to capture every moment, both comical and tragic. 

They had a commanding presence on popular online platforms such as X, Instagram and TikTok. They are also fairly well dressed, a far cry from the riffraff approach to dressing taken by protestors of years gone by. They are well spoken; they eloquently talk of their rights or the lack thereof and before the press. They also engage the public authorities on governance issues which affect their lives such as the now expunged Finance Bill 2024.

The trigger for the protest marches began with the clarion call to reject the Finance Bill 2024/25. When the document first got into the public domain, it generated heat never as witnessed before. 

However, the political class, more keen to achieve their desired ends rather than hear the cry from the citizenry, hurriedly passed it through the parliamentary readings for it to receive assent from the president. 

Even the process of public participation was a sham as the MPs came with a set mind to pass it more or less in its original form. The protestors first began the protests on June 18, 2024. 

When they staged a huge protest on June 27, 2024, pandemonium broke out and many were either shot or abducted to forestall the momentum of their street protests. The protestors also said they had been infiltrated by hooligans hell bent on causing chaos and looting from the public.

So it came as no surprise when the Gen-Z led protests shocked the top leadership of the nation. The first reaction had the Kenya Kwanza regime apologists looking for familiar opposition party led protests but finding none. 

Almost all representatives from the private sector had come forward to express their opposition to the Finance Bill 2024, but the President and all his lieutenants would have none of that. 

In his tour of Garissa County on June 20, 2024, Ruto urged Members of the National Assembly to pass the Finance Bill 2024 very fast to enable his government to offer services to the public. 

“I am asking these MPs to pass the finance bill so that we can secure jobs for intern teachers, fund the HELB and school feeding program among other projects.” 

When the MPs passed the Bill despite the massive number of people protesting on the streets against it, it got to President Ruto’s desk where, in a surprise turn of events, he declined to sign it. The President said he would not sign the Bill into law and called for its total withdrawal. 

Ruto said he had listened to the views of Kenyans, and they had clearly shown they wanted nothing to do with the bill, he would abide by their wishes.

Meanwhile John Kiarie, the Member of National Assembly for Dagoretti South claimed that Gen Z demonstration photos within Nairobi streets were graphically manipulated to create a false narrative, in short they were fake! These remarks ignited anger and infuriated the Gen Zs. When MP Kiarie stood to speak at a funeral a few days after the protest, he was booed and heckled within his own constituency. 

Shortly afterwards in a handwritten apology to the Gen Zs he said, “In the heat of the moment during the debate on the Finance Bill, my words were unnecessary, misguided and insensitive, I deeply regret my utterances and understand the anger and frustration that exists in our nation. Anger that stems from decades of unresolved, but potent national issues.” On this one issue, he had expressed two extremely different views.

Then on June 23, Oscar Sudi praised the Gen Z for coming to the forefront of governance of the country which he described as a mark of maturity. He reiterated that the youth are not criminals and had exercised their right to protest peacefully.

Sudi praised their unity which transcends tribalism and other barriers. He promised, having spoken to President Ruto, to include them in next year’s budget making process. 

A few days later, speaking at Kesses, he said that the Gen Z protests had been planned to overthrow Ruto’s government and that they were not sincere as the Finance Bill 2024 had been withdrawn. He claimed the Gen Z protests had been infiltrated by powerful political forces and that ulterior motives had taken over the goals of the protests. This was baffling having earlier praised the Gen Z youth for clamoring rightly for their space.

On June 25, President Ruto, at a special press conference held at State House, Nairobi, said he was sending a strong warning to the alleged planners of the chaos witnessed during the anti-Finance Bill protest led by the Gen Z. 

The President emphasized that it was his constitutional mandate to take care of Kenya’s constitutional order, and he declared the protests an "existential threat to our republic", and that actors in such threats will be viewed as "treasonous". He went on to say that "I hereby put on notice the planners, financiers, orchestrators and abettors of violence and anarchy…” 

And rather than cool off the intense criticism and further calls for protests it fanned the flames. After a very short while the President had to call a second press conference to talk on the events of the day. 

This time round to forestall inflaming public outburst over police using live bullets on protestors and calling the youthful protestors criminals, the president took a more reconciliatory approach to addressing the nation insisting that criminal elements had infiltrated the demonstrations to cause mayhem and loot from the public. 

Earlier, when the President had refused to assent to the Finance Bill 2024, he had said the people, especially the youth, had spoken and he had heard their voice and would respect their right to protest peacefully.

On July 4, following another round of Gen Z led protests that rocked the country and especially the capital city, the immediate former Cabinet secretary for Defense Aden Duale said at an interview on Citizen TV that security agencies were reportedly investigating six politicians, a prominent businessman and two NGOs who they accuse of sponsoring the anti-tax hike protests.

No proof was however proffered to this end as he said investigations were underway. He promised that within 10 to 14 days all this would be made public however nothing has been forthcoming.

Twelve days down the line, it was the President’s turn to point a finger again at another supposed sponsor of the Gen Z protests. 

Ruto made the allegation in a roadside address in Nakuru County against the Ford Foundation for funding recent unrest in Kenya. President Ruto accused the Ford Foundation of financing groups responsible for the recent wave of protests that has seen at times as many as 30 counties experience youth led protests against bad governance and high taxation. President Ruto, while talking in Kiswahili said; 

“We want to ask the Ford Foundation, the money that they are dishing out to create chaos, how will it benefit them?” He went on, “We are going to call them out and we are going to tell them if they are not interested in democracy in Kenya, if they are going to sponsor violence and anarchy, they either style up or leave.” 

In a rejoinder to these claims, the Ford Foundation strongly refuted Ruto’s claims, stating that they do not condone violence in any way.

“We did not fund or sponsor the recent protests against the finance bill and have a strictly non-partisan policy for all of our grant-making,” Ford Foundation said.

With each government or state official having his story of what is going on in the recent spate of protests and in many instances each has a different version of what is at the core of the protests. It therefore, has been perplexing and bewildering in the least.

Therefore, it remains a mystery as to who exactly is the purported sponsor of violence and destruction of property in Kenya as the Gen Z led protests continue unabated. The country’s leadership is seeking for a platform to dialogue with the Gen Zs but for the self-declared tribe-less, party-less, class-less Gen Zs, remain an amorphous, straight shooting and well schooled age band to deal with.