Kenya one year after the Finance Bill protests

DW (English)

We spoke to young Kenyans about the past and current protests happening across the country. Speaking of their personal experiences and opinions concerning the government and their safety regarding freedom of speech. Have matters changed or are they getting worse?

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome back to the 77% Street Debate. This week we are back in my hometown, Kenya's

00:11capital, Nairobi. And these streets were shaken on the 25th of June 2024 when young people

00:17angered by a controversial finance bill breached the gates of parliament. And a year later

00:22we are here to ask if their demands were met, if they were indeed worth it. Well, who better

00:28to answer those questions for me than some fellow Kenyans. So let's start with you, Hanifa,

00:32because you've sort of become, post the protest, one of the faces of this movement. But before

00:38we continue, just give us a quick look at why the protest happened in the first place.

00:44I think the finance bill was a catalyst. It was anger, bitterness simmered for years and

00:50years, inequality, corruption. It was just everything combined that blew up. The finance

00:57bill was a catalyst and I would like to term it as a youth quake.

01:00A youth quake. So Hanifa describing it here as sort of the proverbial straw that broke the

01:05camel's back. But Wanjera, I know you've been an activist for many years and the issues that

01:09Hanifa is mentioning, they didn't start last year. So what is it that broke that camel's

01:14back?

01:15Young people of this country were rising up against bad leadership, corruption, the economic

01:21situation, the high cost of living at the face of opulence, at the political class, at the face of

01:27we don't care, we're just going to do whatever we want. And young people are saying, no, our future

01:32is on the line. Our present is on the line. So we have to come and say, we are not going to watch

01:37as you do whatever you want. Well, our future deteriorates. Well, our present is unbearable.

01:43Nathaniel, how would you rate the performance of the government between the time of the protest and

01:49now? Has much changed?

01:50I am not the person who is capacitated to rate government performance. Only the young people

01:55and the citizens can tell us how we are performing. And we will be able to know whether we are performing

02:00well or not in the next election and in the continuous process of engagement through the governance

02:05processes.

02:05Okay. So let me ask the people, do you think much has improved since 2024 in June? You know,

02:11the things that you were agitating for. Has the economy improved by a show of hands? Yes.

02:15Has the state of politics improved? Let's see. Joshua, you're a lawyer currently studying,

02:20but you underwent something very critical after the protests when you were mysteriously abducted.

02:25Please tell us how that happened.

02:27Yeah. A day after the 25th of June, where we breached parliament, I received calls from unknown people

02:35and the language was that you are seen somewhere and these guys are coming for you. So wherever you are,

02:40live. So I don't know why I was supposed to live. But when I left immediately, I was captured and

02:46I stayed in their hands for two days. But of course, during which time they could come for me in a room

02:53where they had thrown me into beating me and ask me why I was involved in the protest and why I was

02:59mobilizing young people to, you know, to go to the streets. But ultimately, they threw me into

03:04some river about 100 kilometers from the Nairobi where they picked me up. So that was it for me.

03:13And I think when I speak about this, it gets very personal for me. And that's why, as Anifa said,

03:22it has changed me completely.

03:23Coming from the Kenya Human Rights Commission, what does the data show about the number of people who

03:28were abducted and the number of people who were killed during that time?

03:32Huge numbers. The missing voices report that was released a few months ago indicate that that grew

03:38by about 145 percent from 2019 when that documentation started. That is a worrying trend. And particularly the

03:462024 finance bill protest really resulted in the killings and also enforced disappearances of these

03:53people. And as we speak about this, I think one of the things that we all need to note is that the

03:58Gen Z protest really led to the rising of youth activism. And that is what we are seeing right now.

04:06All right. Let me invite Kelvin. Please join me at the front here. He's wearing the Kenyan flag

04:10and a very democratic or patriotic message on his T-shirt. And I'm very surprised because your

04:17brother was killed by people who are wearing the same flag. Tell us a little bit about Brian,

04:21your late brother, and what happened to him? Brian was a very hardworking person, hardworking boy.

04:28He was my young brother. So Brian went to the street to demonstrate. He went to the street at around

04:36for 30. 30 minutes after he was shot dead. Now, when we spoke on the phone as we were preparing for

04:43this street debate, I asked you if the police have been in touch. And you told me that the Independent

04:49Policing Oversight Authority, Aipoa, has been in touch with you. Did you know that they've listed

04:54your brother's name as one of the cases that's already been investigated? I received a phone call from

04:59my aunt that Aipoa wants the number of the witness. So the witness has refused to come out to

05:06to witness, fear of his life and danger. But also he was offered a job. So you see, the government,

05:13it knows what he's doing because he's a witness, then he's given a job so that he can do it,

05:18he can be silent. Okay. I'd just like to let our audience know that we did invite the Independent

05:24Policing Oversight Authority, Aipoa, but unfortunately they weren't able to make it. But we did speak to

05:29them later and this is what they had to say. This particular question about Gen Z, we have 60 cases

05:36of death reported. Some of the killings were people who were running away and they were shot in

05:42the back, some of the victims. You will see some protests where people are shot in the head.

05:48And so we feel that there must be a much more better management of the public order

05:55and protests by the police. Kelvin, by the way, thank you so much for sharing your story.

06:00But Wanjira, long before the protests, you've heard about police brutality and incidences working with

06:05people on the ground and evidently nothing's changed or nothing seems to have. I think it's a very sad

06:11reality that the Finance Bill 2024 actually brought out to the fore for all Kenyans to see that extrajudicial

06:19killings have been a reality, especially in the informal settlements of this country that have

06:25been ongoing on for years, that every other regime that has come, it's been extrajudicial killings,

06:30extrajudicial killings. And 2024 made it a national discussion. Why is it that our police kill the

06:38young people of this country? We have documented so many cases with the Independent Policing Oversight

06:44Authority. We have gone to court. Not a single case has gotten justice.

06:49So Hanifa, I have to ask because Nathaniel earlier said that they are willing to listen as the

06:54governing party and they're willing to listen as the government. Do you think young people are

06:58willing to listen to government or have you gotten to a place where it's too antagonistic?

07:03I have been to mocharis, to funerals. I have seen each and every family mourning and crying out for their

07:12child. And there's no justice at all. That bothers me a lot. It is so personal to me. So when they

07:21talk about amending things or doing whatever, if they wanted to, they would have done it.

07:26So when you hear about this, Nathaniel, obviously you're not police, you're not government, you can't

07:30answer for justice. But on a personal level, you must surely know that there's a disconnect,

07:35there's a gap between justice and accountability.

07:38Edith, it breaks my heart to hear and even saw what the young people were killed in the protest

07:45because of a finance bill. Government has appropriated enough resources to the security

07:50sector. So it is the duty of every citizen, especially we, the young people, to be able to

07:55ask the police the hard questions. What happened to accounting for each and every case that were killed

08:02in the finance bill, either by the police or by other criminal elements or any other. And the

08:07beauty is that we have a robust judiciary. There are no cases that have evidence that can be able to

08:12evade the judiciary of Kenya.

08:13I think Kelvin might have a different opinion there, given that his witness is being intimidated,

08:18surely. So I'd like to wrap this conversation up with Hanifa because I did start with you

08:23asking the question of, was it worth it? There is absolutely nothing that government hasn't done

08:29to silence dissent. Nothing. You killed us. You're abducting us. You're taking us to courts. None of it

08:38has been able to silence us. So that is the power we got from last year. I'm not the same person I was

08:44last year. And the person before the protest. It was worth it. And we do it over and over again for a

08:51reimagined Kenya. Okay. So, oh, wow.

08:55Viva, comrades, viva. Viva. Down with abduction, down. Down. Down with corruption, down. Down with the killings, down.

09:02Normally, I have something clever to say at the end of these debates, but I think the young people here

09:07have made their voices heard pretty clearly. The struggle still continues. People died, people were

09:12abducted, but I think the voice here is very loud and clear.

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