The AIAC Podcast: Uprising in Kenya

Host: Will Shoki
Guest: Wangui Kimari, Anthropologist & East Africa Regional Editor at Africa Is a Country
Date: June 27, 2024

Overview

In this episode, host Will Shoki and guest Wangui Kimari dive deep into the mass protests rocking Kenya in June 2024. Sparked by the controversial Finance Bill proposing sweeping and regressive tax increases, these mobilizations evolved rapidly into a nationwide movement against President William Ruto and Kenya's entrenched political elite. The episode explores why these protests erupted, who is leading them, how the state responded, their deeper roots, and possible futures for the movement and Kenyan politics.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background: The Finance Bill and Economic Crisis

• Protests over the 2024 Finance Bill:
  • Sought to raise $2.7 billion, mostly to service public debt (68% of GDP, exceeding IMF recommended 55%).
  • Proposed new taxes: 16% VAT on bread, taxes on cooking oil, diapers, sanitary pads, and digital services—all basic needs.
  • After initial protests, certain taxes were dropped, but other regressive measures persisted.
• Public backlash escalated:
  • Massive, cross-generational, cross-class, and inter-ethnic protests, led notably by Gen Z—many of whom did not vote in the last election.
  • Largest protests saw an estimated 1 million in Nairobi and hundreds of thousands in other counties.
• State response:
  • Violent crackdown: over 53 killed (by official counts), especially in working-class neighborhoods. Police opened fire on live TV.
  • Internet shutdowns and accusations of "treason."
• Presidential climbdown:
  • Under pressure (domestic and international), Ruto announced he would not sign the bill.
  • Protest demands have since grown beyond the bill to demands for Ruto’s resignation.

2. Ruto’s Contradictions: From 'Hustler' to IMF Enforcer

• Ruto’s rise and image:
  • Styled himself as the "hustler" championing Kenya’s poor, opposing "dynasties" (Kenya’s political families).
  • Won 2022 election with a compelling narrative but quickly pivoted to serving elite and creditor interests after taking power.
• Broken promises:
  • Adopted IMF-backed austerity, cutting social spending and implementing harsh new taxes.
  • Public anger further fueled by ostentatious government spending (e.g., private jets, luxury living by politicians).
  • Government’s arrogance and disconnect, symbolized by luxury flaunting on social media, further alienated Kenyans.

3. Roots and Nature of the Current Uprising

• Not an isolated event:
  • Discontent has simmered for years: e.g., public sector strikes, cost of living crisis, and eroding public services.
  • Youth disillusionment manifested in ultra-low voter turnout and now in mass street mobilization.
  • Deep generational break: This Gen Z did not internalize 'fear of the state' that older generations learned under authoritarian rule.
• How did horizontal, leaderless mobilization emerge?
  • Social media (X/Twitter Spaces, WhatsApp) allowed decentralized, democratic coordination—hours-long discussions and strategizing.
  • Government arrogance provoked people further; dismissive, out-of-touch remarks from officials fueled anger.
  • When peaceful plea mechanisms failed, mass direct action became the logical next step.

4. Protest Culture: Joy, Solidarity, and Mutual Aid

• Scenes of solidarity:
  • Free rides for disabled people, food and water shared on the streets, mutual aid for bereaved families.
  • "People raised close to $30,000... for funerals. And... close to $150,000 just to take care of their families." (Wangui Kimari, 27:38)
  • Protests stayed peaceful until police opened fire; then, incidents of property damage and looting (including by police) followed.

5. Beyond the Finance Bill: What’s Next for Kenya?

• The movement’s demands have expanded:
  • Now: #RutoMustGo is the rallying cry, targeting systemic political arrogance and corruption.
  • Anger at Ruto’s foreign policy: subservience to the West, deployment of Kenyan troops to Haiti, and ambiguous stance on Palestine.
• Potential for transformation and threats of counterrevolution:
  • Participants note patterns similar to #EndSARS (Nigeria), Fees Must Fall (South Africa), and North African uprisings.
  • Risks:
    • Counterinsurgency—police brutality, abductions, and scapegoating of civil society.
    • Placation (empty concessions) or elite co-optation.
    • Institutional hurdles: Kenya’s electoral commission is non-functional, complicating possible snap elections or recalls.
  • Discussion on succession and political vacuum if Ruto resigns:
    • Opposition leaders like Odinga unlikely to gain Gen Z support.
    • Possible new faces: Nairobi senator Edwin Sifuna, though no clear, legitimate alternative appears.

6. Building a Lasting Alternative

• What keeps momentum alive?
  • Need to work on multiple fronts: continued protest, pressuring institutions (e.g., churches), building new democratic spaces.
  • Gen Z’s refusal to be placated and their uncompromising stance is seen as a new, hopeful force.
• Systemic obstacles:
  • Political institutions are designed to absorb and neutralize change, making genuine transformation difficult—"if we leave it standing, you’re just, it’s rot."
• Kimari’s hope for the future:
  • "We just need to keep these fires burning. And if the love and connection on the street over the last few two weeks is anything to go by, I think we can do it." (Wangui Kimari, 31:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [05:55] On protest scale and spirit:
  "For the first time in a long time, across class, across ethnic, interreligious, intergeneration group of people took to the streets. Obviously though at the forefront were Gen Z who were mobilizing through X and different fora." – Wangui Kimari

• [08:12] On government brutality and international pressure:
  "The president had a big tantrum on TV and called everyone treasonous... Then... the police committed really what is a massacre in a neighborhood called Githurai." – Wangui Kimari

• [13:29] On Ruto’s betrayal:
  "So how did he shift from this icon of the hustler to where we are now? We're really not sure. But I think he's just revealed his true face. And his government is so arrogant. It's full of people who wear seventy thousand dollar watches ... give two hundred thousand in community fundraisers but they can't explain where that money came from." – Wangui Kimari

• [20:32] On Gen Z’s unique mobilization:
  "What is for sure unprecedented is how this generation has come and put their actual bodies on the line and compelled their parents, ashamed all of us, into also joining them on the streets." – Wangui Kimari

• [27:38] On mutual aid and solidarity:
  "There were Ubers ... fairing people with disabilities for free so that they could be in the protest. People are distributing bananas... Over the three days [the protests] were peaceful until the cops shot people on live TV outside Parliament." – Wangui Kimari

• [31:38] On sustaining hope:
  "But the hope is that whatever fires we can sustain from this period, that we just sustain them for everyone. That's all. I wish I had a blueprint and I would tell you that tomorrow Kenya is going to become the first socialist state in East Africa. I can't tell you that. But what I could tell you is that we just need to keep these fires burning." – Wangui Kimari

• [41:53] On pressure points and political strategy:
  "We need to keep talking democratically on all of these different spaces and doing the hard work of, the very hard work of trying to build actual alternatives ... But we're not going back, Will. I don't think we're going back." – Wangui Kimari

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:17 – Introduction and overview of Finance Bill crisis
• 03:48 – Wangui Kimari describes the protest mood, social unity, and massacre in Githurai
• 09:50 – Discussion of Ruto’s political biography and populist turn
• 12:30 – Dissection of Ruto's betrayal and rise of government arrogance
• 17:07 – Analysis of protest roots: youth disillusionment and non-traditional political expressions
• 22:03 – How the protests were built, Gen Z's digital coordination, and horizontal organization
• 25:28 – The movement moves 'beyond the bill': connections to global uprisings and future scenarios
• 27:15 – Grassroots solidarity: mutual aid, peaceful energy, and public response to police violence
• 32:19 – Reflections on Kenyan elite politics, Western influence, and theoretical alternatives
• 35:49 – The problem of leadership vacuum if Ruto falls
• 41:07 – Strategies for sustaining momentum & building political alternatives

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

The "Uprising in Kenya" episode captures a watershed moment in contemporary Kenyan politics. It illuminates how a youth-led, digitally organized, horizontal movement has shifted the nation’s political landscape—from fighting one regressive bill to demanding generational change. The episode is a testament to Kenyan youth’s fearlessness, exposes the contradictions of elite politics, and points honestly to the challenges of moving from revolt to transformation.

"We’re not going back, Will. I don’t think we’re going back." – Wangui Kimari [41:53]