MENA Fem Movement for Economical, Development and Ecological Justice
Imungu Kalevera
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Reject Finance Bill 2024 and the Kenyan Resistance against Debt Slavery

Imungu Kalevera

Pan-African Feminist | Program and Grants Manager | GEST fellow 2021 | Researcher | Her areas of expertise include: economic justice, feminist tech, and movement building.

 

It was ‘maandamano’.

From 18th June 2024, Kenyans in their thousands thronged the streets of Nairobi and other major towns every Tuesday and Thursday to protest against the Kenya Finance Bill 2024/2025 (at the time of the writing of this blog, preparations were underway for 2nd July protests) Known in Kiswahili as maandamano, these protests signified an inflection point in the country’s history; a clear consequence of massive economic pressure and bad governance. 

In the lead up to these protests, Kenyans had been on the receiving end of tax increases that teared deep into the pockets of the most vulnerable. These tax increases were largely driven by the need to repay loans from international financial institutions (notably the International Monetary Fund IMF) that previous administrations had taken on. For instance, public debt stock increased from Ksh 6.28 trillion in March 2020 to Ksh 7.34 trillion (575 million USD) in March 2021 (KIPPRA, 2021). In the first 3 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kenya borrowed the equivalent of 4.5billion shillings (34 million USD) every day bringing its debt to 6.28 trillion Kenya shillings (486 million USD) by the end of June 2020. (Wafula & Olingo, 2020) The debt spiral was further exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. This borrowing spree would see significant International Monetary Fund (IMF) backed tax increases take effect in the next few years including doubling the Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel in July 2023, leading to the highest price hike of fuel Kenyans had ever experienced in the recent past while proposing further taxes on sugar and maize flour (Kulkarni, 2023).

Kenya enjoys a strong relationship with Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) such as the IMF and the World Bank but not without a cost. And so, it came as no surprise to economists, feminist economists and activists when the debt crunch started to bite in June 2024. Amidst mounting pressure to conform to IMF requirements President William Ruto backed the Finance Bill 2024/2025 triggering one of Kenya’s most prominent protests.

Where it pinched

The 2024 finance bill proposed a vast array of tax measures that would continue the country’s pattern of raising taxes from the poor to pay debt that undermines growth and wellbeing of its citizens. In summary, the bill proposed amongst others;

  • An Eco Levy imposed on imported sanitary towels and diapers
  • 16% tax on goods and services for direct and exclusive use in the construction and equipping of specialized hospitals with a minimum bed capacity of 50.
  • 16% sales tax on bread and 25% duty on cooking oil.
  • 50% reduced allocation for the provision of free delivery services at public hospitals under the Linda Mama Program
  • 3% levy on liquid paraffin stoves
  • Increased excise duty on mobile money transfers
  • Withholding taxes on digital payment facilitated by digital marketplace owners

Previously, the Finance Bill 2023 had already set a precedent for increased taxation of Kenya’s most vulnerable, and to maintain its relationship of servitude with the IMF, and against the advice of the World Bank (World Bank,2023) the country’s leadership doubled down on the regressive tax regime in the 2024 bill.

In addition, the bill inflated the country’s wage bill by creating, for instance, the offices of the First Lady, the Deputy First Lady, and the spouse of the Prime Secretary – each with a budget, an office and staff in a country where the legislators are the second highest paid in the world in relation to GDP (Nyabola, 2024). 

A country’s cry

What followed these proposals? There was widespread public outcry and mobilization while the bill was being rushed through the legislature in an unprecedented show of the government’s disregard for ordinary Kenyans. Activists, citizens and professionals from all sectors began to dismantle the bill’s contents and draft a picture of its future implications if passed. The campaign to be later dubbed #RejectFinanceBill2024 started to take shape. 

Social media became a key avenue for the dissemination of this information and indeed this may have contributed greatly to the pivotal role the youth (commonly referred to during the protests as Gen Z) played in this revolution. Content creators, community educators, ordinary folks and civil society created messaging on the finance bill in audio, visual and written formats including across several of Kenya’s vernacular languages. This campaign succeeded in galvanizing Kenyans against the bill’s contents and by extension, against the country’s leadership.

This outrage marked another pivotal point in Kenya’s history where external debt, internal governance issues and the resultant socio-economic pressures threatened the country’s prosperity, democratization and development. Kenya is no stranger to protests revolving around debt and economic issues. In 2013, Kenyans took to the streets to protest Members of Parliament inflated salaries parading pigs in front of parliament (with reference to MPs and MPigs) (BBC,2013) and again in 2023 against the Finance bill 2023/2024 that proposed stringent IMF backed taxes (Lawal, 2024) to name a few. 

None of these, however, compared to the collective action witnessed in June 2024. The protests held every Tuesday and Thursday, the first of which took place on 18th June 2024 birthed a social movement that prided itself on being leaderless, tribeless, partyless and fearless (Laidlaw,2024). On the first day of protests Kenyans took to the streets to occupy parliament in Nairobi and stay watch as legislators amended the bill only slightly, progressing it to the next stage. Concurrently, rallying calls to #RejectNotAmend and protest the bill gained momentum culminating in widespread protests in 35 out of 47 Kenyan counties (Nation, 2024) the largest of which was witnessed on the 25th of June 2024.

“What Kenyans are demanding from their government is really very simple. Reject the finance bill, it’s punitive and crippling. WE are asking the government to curb excessive expenditure and runaway corruption”- Njeri Wa Migwi (Facebook, 25th June)

“The government has portrayed an image that citizen input is not prioritized … meanwhile, people are seeing opulence in government coupled with arise in unemployment.” @NerimaW 

“Tomorrow we do it again! We reject budgeted corruption. We reject modern day slavery sponsored by IMF and World Bank. We reject impunity and inhumane treatment of Kenyans. Tomorrow we reclaim our sovereignty as a people! #RejectImpunity #REJECTFINANCEBILL” @wanjirunjira 

“Kenyan women were particularly outraged at the contents of the bill that sought to limit their access to menstrual products, life preserving maternal services and increase women’s unpaid care work by increasing taxes on specialized medical equipment thereby rendering women as the caregivers to close the gap for those in need of care. In addition, the bill suggested 200 billion Kenya shillings cut to the education sector, where gender parity is still a distant target (Kihaki, 2024). 

In their thousands they took to the streets both online and offline. Several Feminist movements actors and activists engaged with the content of the bill, feminists’ analyses were provided (Maloba, 2024) rich in economic justice critique. The ‘Gen Z’ also were not to be silenced. They were relentless in their calls to #RejectFinanceBill2024 and this agenda expanded into calls to #OccupyParliament and #RutoMustGo.

“Recognizing the disproportionate ways that taxation affects marginalized groups, and supporting the collective vision of a Kenya that works for EVERYONE, we join Kenyans in the organic movement to. #RejecttheFinanceBill2024” @FeministsKe

In response, the Kenyan government put on a show of heavy-handed security tactics resulting in the deaths of at least 39 Kenyans and injuries of hundreds of others with police often using live ammunition of peaceful protestors, abductions and an internet shutdown (KNCHR,2024). But after the first two weeks of heavy protests, and a tone-deaf statement from the president, he reluctantly withdrew the bill but further protests from different quarters calling for government accountability persisted.

A familiar tale

As the initial protests raged on, the focus of the people shifted to the IMF. Citizens faulted the financial institution for imposing impossible standards on the Kenyan government. In response the IMF said in a public statement that the bill is an important step in “correcting course.” “A sizeable and upfront fiscal adjustment in FY24/25 will be needed to correct the course,” the institution said, “…the authorities have taken decisive steps towards fiscal consolidation by introducing several measures in the context of the draft 2024/25 Budget and the 2024 Finance Bill.” (Kiruga, 2024) Some agencies report the IMF even advised the Kenyan government to ignore anti-tax-protests (Kariuki,2024) in what can only be described as a callous exhibition of its neoliberalist roots. 

IMF’s language of fiscal consolidation, echoing President Ruto’s calls for austerity measures to be implemented in the wake of the withdrawal of the bill. The President further alluded to cuts in development budget and the constituency development fund (CDF) that has been instrumental in driving service provision, scholarships and development in rural parts of Kenya.

These words mirror the trend of welfare cuts in the 1980s via structural adjustment programs that robbed Kenyans of state supported access to vital services. Unsurprisingly, the IMF and other BWIs had a hand in this collapse as well(explain how) when in 1980, Kenya because one of the first countries to sign on to the SAPs that cut key funding to sectors such as health and thereby decreasing women’s access to health and increasing their vulnerability to morbidity and mortality (Parsitau, 2008) 

What Kenya and other African (as well as Global South) countries face today is a familiar tale of the tyranny of Bretton Woods Institutions on their economies. Uganda, after receiving an extended credit facility from the IMF has been challenged to increase “consolidation efforts” (Owino, 2024). In Uganda higher taxes on petroleum products and secondhand clothes had been proposed in a new finance bill, whose effect would be disproportionately felt by women who dominate the secondhand clothes industry and make use of daily petroleum products such as paraffin. In Tanzania, new taxes on businesses pushed traders to the street in protest (Karashani, 2024) One can only imagine that similar protests driven by socio economic pressures will be witnessed across the Global South. 

Though the finance bill in Kenya has been withdrawn, mounting pressure from healthcare workers, young Kenyans and teachers persists. Education and health have consistently been underfunded in the country as a quick fix to budget cuts demanded under the fiscal consolidation policies pushed by BWIs. These budget cuts continue to rob the most vulnerable Kenyans (where women are overrepresented) of their rights, roll back gender equality gains without ever delivering on their intended promise of economic growth. 

The social movement that sprouted from the frustration of Kenyans has centered community, shared leadership, care, movement building and social justice in its organizing. These same values need to be infused into the international financial structure, BWIs and governance systems. As long as BWIs continue the legacy of defining economic success at the expense of human rights, moments such as the 2024 tax protests in Kenya are only the beginning of a reckoning. 

Endnotes

  1. BBC News. (2013, May 15). Kenya’s economy: Challenges and opportunities. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-22522846 
  1. Finance Bill, 2024. (2024). Retrieved from http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2024-05/Finance%20Bill%2C%202024.pdf
  1. Karashani, M. (2024). Tanzania traders’ strike expands to other cities. The East African. Retrieved from https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/tanzania-traders-strike-expands-to-other-cities-4671186
  1. Kariuki, J. (2024). IMF told state to ignore anti-tax protests. Nation Media Group. Retrieved from https://nation.africa/kenya/business/imf-told-state-to-ignore-anti-tax-protests-4672248
  1. Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA). (n.d.). Kenya’s public debt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from https://kippra.or.ke/kenyas-public-debt-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/ 
  1. Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). (2024). Update on the status of human rights in Kenya during the anti-Finance Bill protests, Monday 1st July 2024. Retrieved from https://www.knchr.org/Articles/ArtMID/2432/ArticleID/1200/Update-on-the-Status-of-Human-Rights-in-Kenya-during-the-Anti-Finance-Bill-Protests-Monday-1st-July-2024
  1. Kihaki, N. (2024). Education sector braces for impact as budget cuts loom. The Standard. Retrieved from https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/education/article/2001498001/education-sector-braces-for-impact-as-budget-cuts-loom 
  1. Kiruga, M. (2024). Why is the IMF writing Kenya’s finance bills? Kenyan Wall Street. Retrieved from https://kenyanwallstreet.com/why-is-the-imf-writing-kenyas-finance-bills/
  1. Laidlaw, H. (n.d.). Youth rebellion scores victory: Interview with Kenyan activist. Red Flag. Retrieved from https://redflag.org.au/article/youth-rebellion-scores-victory-interview-with-kenyan-activist
  1. Lawa, M. (2024, July 7). Why are Kenyans angry with the IMF? Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/7/why-are-kenyans-angry-with-the-imf
  1. Maloba, N. (2024, June). Establishing a revolutionary era of resistance: A feminist perspective on Kenya’s Finance Bill 2024. FEMNET. Retrieved from https://www.femnet.org/2024/06/establishing-a-revolutionary-era-of-resistance-a-feminist-perspective-on-kenyas-finance-bill-2024/
  1. Nation Media Group. (2024). Anti-tax demonstrations rock 35 counties as youths take over Parliament buildings. Retrieved from https://nation.africa/kenya/news/anti-tax-demonstrations-rock-35-counties-as-youths-take-over-parliament-buildings-4669734
  1. Nation Media Group. (2024). East Africa’s finance bills deal heavy blow to women’s wallets. Retrieved from https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/east-africa-s-finance-bills-deal-heavy-blow-to-women-s-wallets-4664846
  1. Olingo, A. (2020). Kenya took Sh4bn loan every day. Retrieved from https://nation.africa/kenya/news/kenya-took-sh4bn-loan-every-day-1935158
  1. Owino, V. (2024). IMF releases $120m to Uganda to address inflation. The East African. Retrieved from https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/imf-releases-120m-to-uganda-to-address-inflation-4550870
  1. Parsitau, D. S. (2008). The impact of structural adjustments programmes (SAPs) on the health status of women in Kenya. In M. Sama & V.-K. Nguyen (Eds.), Governing health systems in Africa (pp. 191-200). Dakar: CODESRIA.
  1. People’s Dispatch. (2023, July 14). Understanding mass protests and violent repression in Kenya: William Ruto’s tax hikes. Retrieved from https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/07/14/understanding-mass-protests-and-violent-repression-in-kenya-william-rutos-tax-hikes/ 
  1. World Bank. (2023). Kenya Economic Update – Securing Growth: Opportunities for Kenya in a Decarbonizing World (English). Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099060523141041477/P17976900a185c0a608fc8057aefbd0539d