SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED AS KENYA BRACES FOR 3 DAYS OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS

According to local media reports, three schoolchildren were rushed to the hospital in Kangemi on the outskirts of Nairobi after police used tear gas on their school premises while dispersing protesters.

Kenya’s opposition called for the protests in part because of tax hikes passed last month by the government of President William Ruto, who was elected last August pledging to champion the interests of the poor, but has seen the price of basic commodities balloon under his administration.

The government says the fuel and housing levies, which are expected to raise an extra 200 billion shillings ($1.4bn) a year, are needed to help deal with growing debt repayments and to fund job-creation initiatives.

Ruto, who has said he will not allow the protests to happen, inherited an enormous government debt. When his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta took office in 2013, it stood at 1.79 trillion shillings ($13bn). By the time Kenyatta left office, it had ballooned to 8.7 trillion shillings ($61bn).

Meanwhile, churches and civil rights groups have called for Ruto and veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga to resolve their differences through dialogue and call off the protests.

“It is not too late for Azmio to halt the planned protests and give talks another shot in the wider interest of the country,” National Council of NGOs Chairman Stephen Kipchumba Cheboi said in a statement on Tuesday.

The president has accused his rival of attempting to leverage discontent over the state of the economy to attain personal political goals.

“We recognise the daily hardship faced by many Kenyans and urge all parties to table their concerns through a meaningful dialogue,” a group of 12 foreign embassies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.