Kenya: Troubled haven in a region of famine and civil war

Several anti-finance bill protesters have been wounded in police firing in Kenya 

• Kenya is a very peaceful country, free of civil wars, military coups and heavy- handed rule which mark some of its neighbours
• We pay little attention to news from Latin America – coups and civil wars are now the exception, not the rule, but there is a relentless war against drug trafficking across the continent

We have been so engrossed with war in Ukraine and the Middle East, that we forget what’s happening in other parts of the world. The human tragedy caused by these wars is appalling and needs constant attention. But the Ukraine war is over two years old and the war in Gaza is about to enter its tenth month. It’s time to look at what’s happening elsewhere.

Kenya is a very peaceful country, free of civil wars, military coups and heavy-handed rule which mark some of its neighbours.
But Kenya was shaken by nationwide protests against a new tax-raising bill that was seen as a major step forward to President William Ruto’s economic reforms. Shaken, the president agreed to withdraw the bill a day after it was passed in Parliament.

Ruto’s surprise decision not to sign the finance bill came after violent clashes between police and protesters at the Kenyan assembly and across the country left at least 23 people dead and scores wounded.
“Listening keenly to the people of Kenya, who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this finance bill 2024, I concede. And therefore, I will not sign the 2024 finance bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” he said in a press briefing in Nairobi.

Thousands of people gathered in Nairobi, the capital, with some storming into Parliament and other offices of government institutions and setting parts of them on fire.

Largest economy 

Kenya (population 54.3 million), is East Africa’s largest economy. It was seen for decades as a poor country, but is an upper-middle income economy as of 2024, with its GDP reaching $204.6 billion. This is due to increasing technology innovation services.

Kenya is also a favourite safari destination and is regarded as a good country for expatriates to live in. But the cost of living has been rising, and protesters feared the new taxes would eat into their incomes.

Police opened fire and shot teargas at protesters. At least 23 people were killed and another 30 were being treated for bullet wounds. The protests have been driven largely by youth-led digital activism, with young Kenyans using X, TikTok and other platforms to oppose the bill, crowdfund, organise and mobilise demonstrations.
Ruto acknowledged deaths, calling it an “unfortunate situation”, and offered condolences. Trying to defuse the situation, he has proposed a dialogue with protest leaders, civil society figures, religious organisations and professional bodies.

Non-governmental organisations said there had been 21 abductions and disappearances, with some of the victims having been vocal on social media about the planned protests.

Nicodemus Minde, a researcher with the Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi, said lingering questions about those killed and injured during the protests, as well as those missing, could mean the protests may continue.
Posts on social media had urged people to occupy the State House, the president’s office and residence, on Thursday, and the local offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Despite the violence and deaths, Kenya is still a far cry from her neighbours. Kenya shares common borders with five countries: Tanzania in the South, Uganda in the West, South Sudan in the North West, Ethiopia in the North and Somalia in the East. Tanzania is relatively peaceful, but all the other countries are troubled by civil wars, famine, rights abuses and heavy-handed rule.

Latin America 

We pay little attention to news from Latin America – coups and civil wars are now the exception, not the rule, but there is a relentless war against drug trafficking across the continent. Mexico and Bolivia figure prominently in drug-related news. But Honduras is suddenly in the limelight -- Juan Orlando Hernández, the disgraced former president of Honduras, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for ordering his military and national police force to actively assist drug traffickers in shipping tons of cocaine into the United States.

A US federal court sentenced Hernández to 45 years in a US prison and fined him $8 million. A jury convicted him in March in a Manhattan federal court after a two-week trial, which was closely followed in his home country.
The federal judge who sentenced  Hernández called him a “two-faced politician hungry for power” who protected a select group of traffickers.

Hernández, 55, was the first former head of state to be found guilty of drug trafficking in the United States since the Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega was convicted in 1992. He was once considered one of Washington’s top allies in the region.
He was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, three months after leaving office in 2022 and was extradited to the US in April of that year.

Drug traffickers 

US prosecutors say Hernández worked with drug traffickers as long ago as 2004, taking millions of dollars in bribes as he rose from rural congressman to president of the national congress and then to the country’s highest office.
This column will conclude with news from the Ukraine because of a dangerous new development. Either by accident or by deliberate targeting, a Ukrainian missile hit a beach in Crimea last Sunday, killing adult Russian holidaymakers as well as children.

It is an open secret that American satellite data is used to guide Ukrainian missiles (supplied by the US and its NATO allies) to their targets. Both the US and Germany have allowed Ukraine to use weapons given by them to the Ukrainian forces to attack targets inside Russian territory. This is a dangerous escalation of the conflict.