KDF patrols a welcome security assurance
In a much-awaited ruling, the High Court has allowed the deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to help the police quell the ongoing violence in the anti-tax protests. However, the government has been given two days to state the scope, and areas of intervention by the military.
The anti-tax protests have continued despite President William Ruto’s climbdown on the controversial Finance Bill, 2024. His concession in response to appeals locally and internationally has failed to appease the youthful demonstrators.
However, the images of the KDF patrolling the streets of Nairobi have sparked mixed reactions. Those opposed to it fear that it could lead to a militarisation of the country. But others see the military presence as a welcome security assurance.
The confrontations between the protesters and the police have claimed scores of lives and caused serious injuries. The military intervention should send a firm message of the restoration of peace, tranquility and national stability. The Kenyan military, which has distinguished itself for peacekeeping on the international scene, is in this rare local assignment. It would have been a huge mockery of the KDF to ignore the mayhem at home and yet be ready to rush and put out fires abroad, as it has done over the years.
The height of irony is that a country that is once again poised to play a pivotal role in restoring peace in Haiti in the Caribbean, where the first group of 400 Kenyan police officers has already arrived, is itself staring at mayhem and bloodshed.
Opposition to the Finance Bill, which contains what have been denounced as “oppressive and punitive” tax proposals, has fuelled the countrywide clashes. In Nairobi and other towns yesterday, businesses remained closed as police patrolled the streets. Roads have also been barricaded. Businesses and traders are making huge losses, hence the need to move quickly and restore law and order.
The Gen Z should reciprocate President Ruto’s positive gesture on the high tax proposals by also calling off protests. The country needs to return to normality so that the people can go about their business of catering for their families and building the nation.
