Kenyan President William Ruto announced on Sunday his readiness to communicate with young demonstrators who protested across the country last week against a project to impose new taxes.
Ruto praised the peacefulness of the move, his office said.
He said, during a celebration in the town of Nyahuru, more than 150 kilometers north of the capital, Nairobi, “I am very proud of our youth… They expressed themselves in a peaceful way, and I want to tell them that we will talk to them.”
“We will talk to you to identify your problems and work together as a nation,” Ruto affirmed, in a statement published by presidential spokesman, Hussein Mohammed, on the “X” platform.
The youth demonstrations caught President Ruto’s administration by surprise.
In his first public comments on the demonstrations, the Kenyan president added, “Our youth came forward to discuss the affairs of the country. They did their democratic duty to impose themselves and push for recognition.”
Hanifa Adan, who co-organized the movements, said President Ruto should “respond publicly” to protesters’ demands to scrap the new taxes.
Two people were killed and dozens injured during Thursday’s demonstration in the capital, Nairobi, according to human rights activists.
An official at the Kenya Human Rights Commission confirmed that the young man, Evans Kirato (21 years old), was “hit by a tear gas canister” before he died in the hospital.
Another young man, 29, was admitted to a hospital in Nairobi on Thursday “unconscious and with injuries to his thigh” before he “died” from his injuries, according to a police report.
President Ruto’s administration has defended its plan to impose new taxes that it considers necessary.
Ruto confirmed on Sunday that the plan includes measures to combat youth unemployment and facilitate access to a better level of education.
Kenya’s population is 51 million people.
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