Kenya president backs down on tax rises after deadly protests

Kenya's president, William Ruto, said on Wednesday he would withdraw planned tax rises, bowing to pressure from protesters who had stormed parliament, launched demonstrations across the country and threatened more action this week.

Ruto said he would not sign a finance bill including the hikes a day after violent clashes between police and protesters at the assembly and nationwide left at least 23 people dead and scores wounded, according to medics.

"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 And therefore, I will not sign the 2024 finance bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn," he said in a televised address.

Ruto said he would now start a dialogue with Kenyan youth, without going into details, and work on austerity measures - starting with cuts to the budget of the presidency - to make up the difference in the country's finances.

The move will be seen as a major victory for a week-old protest movement that grew from online condemnations of tax increases into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul, in the most serious crisis of Ruto's two-year-old presidency. (Reporting by Giulia Paravicini and Aaron Ross; additional reporting by George Obulutsa, Hereward Holland and Edwin Okoth; writing by Andrew Heavens; editing by Mark Heinrich) - Giulia Paravicini and Aaron Ross.