Kenyan Lawmakers Double Down on Taxes Despite Street Protests
- Agitation aims at pressing government into dropping new taxes
- Ruto’s under pressure to increase tax collection, slash debt
This article is for subscribers only.
Lawmakers aligned to President William Ruto overwhelmingly agreed to keep controversial budget measures to raise as much as $2.4 billion even as police sealed off the national assembly on Thursday to keep anti-tax demonstrators away.
More than 200 members of parliament supported the so-called Finance Bill, while 115 opposed the proposals, National Assembly speaker Moses Wetang’ula said in a live broadcast of proceedings. The bill will undergo a third vote to become law, the speaker said.