President William Ruto has dissolved his cabinet with immediate effect in what will be interpreted as a move to appease protesters who spent two weeks asking for an end to his administration. His plans to raise revenues through tax raises have suffered setbacks even as the Kenyan Revenue Authority missed its tax targets for 2023.
“I have decided to dismiss with immediate effect all the cabinet secretaries and the Attorney General of the cabinet of Kenya, except the prime cabinet secretary and cabinet secretary for diaspora affairs. The office of the vice president is not affected in any way,” Ruto said in a televised address on Thursday.
Ruto said he will engage in extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations to set up a “broad-based” government that will assist him in dealing with the burden of debt, raising domestic resources, eliminating wastage and corruption in government and expanding job opportunities for the youth.
“During this process, the operations of government will continue uninterrupted under the guidance of Principal Secretaries and other relevant officials,” Ruto said.
On Tuesday, the president reached out to opposition leader Raila Odinga to help quell the tensions that have gripped the country for a month. The current crisis started after the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition failed to heed calls to reject the controversial 2024 Finance Bill, which was finally withdrawn on June 25 after demonstrators overran parliament.
But what started as protests against new taxes on bread, cars, diapers, and sanitary towels, among other items, has now morphed into calls for Ruto to resign, with Kenyans accusing his government of corruption, extra-judicial killings, abductions, and incompetence.
Following the withdrawal of the tax bill, Ruto has slashed the 2024/2025 budget by $1.3 billion. This represents almost half of the $2.7 billion extra revenue the Ruto administration had hoped to raise from the new taxes in the scrapped bill.
*This is a developing story
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