Kenya opposition plans third anti-tax protest

Kenya’s opposition has called for a third day of demonstrations against tax hikes on July 19, after previous protests saw several of Kenya’s towns and cities witness violent and sometimes deadly stand-offs with police.Police shot dead at least two protesters in the capital Nairobi on Wednesday, officers said, as they sought to repel a crowd advancing down the main expressway.Local media reported at least six people were killed in the nationwide protests.President William Ruto was elected last August on a platform of helping Kenya’s working poor, but his critics say the tax rises he signed last month will deepen the plight of Kenyans already struggling to afford basic commodities like maize flour.Police have been accused of a heavy-handed response and criticised for using tear gas against civilians, including at a school, causing dozens of children to be hospitalised.Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has finished runner-up in five straight presidential elections, said two lawmakers had been among those arrested for their role in Wednesday’s protest, which saw tens of people hospitalised."We are not giving up in our quest to force Mr William Ruto to lower the cost of living, respect the views of Kenyans, reconstitute the (election commission) in a bipartisan manner and respect political parties,” Odinga told journalists.The government says the tax hikes, expected to raise an extra 200bn shillings ($1.42bn) a year, are needed to help deal with growing debt repayments and to fund job-creation initiatives in Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy.Kenya’s High Court suspended the tax hikes, but the government has raised petrol prices anyway, leading to a further court challenge.Kenya’s interior ministry said yesterday that more than 300 people had been arrested over the anti-government protests."Acts of lawlessness ... can neither be accepted nor tolerated,” Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said. "There is no relationship between lowering the cost of living and destruction of critical infrastructure built using public funds. That is hooliganism, lawlessness, and a recipe for anarchy.”"Security officers are directed to enforce the law firmly and decisively and deal with all criminals, including economic saboteurs, looters, and vandals, who are destroying ... private property,” he said.The minister said 312 people "who directly or indirectly planned, orchestrated, or financed” the protests had been arrested and would be charged, including a member of parliament who was later released."The search for more culprits is on,” he added.Already hit by soaring inflation, many Kenyans say the country can ill afford the disruption caused by the demonstrations.Each day of protest costs the economy an average of 3bn shillings ($21.8mn), according to an estimate by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance.