Kenya’s youth-driven, leaderless protest movement finds itself at a crossroads this weekend, buoyed up by President William Ruto’s surprise decision on Wednesday to abandon a finance bill containing planned tax rises even as it mourns those killed in deadly violence the day before.

The movement that brought thousands of people out on to the streets in recent weeks, against the backdrop of a cost of a living crisis that has left many young people feeling hopeless, has little precedence in Kenya where protests are traditionally elite-led.

Herman Manyora, a Nairobi-based political analyst, said the scenes in recent days had “rubber-stamped” a sense among ordinary citizens that they have power at their disposal and that the government should be forced to engage with them to formulate and implement policies.

Any government must be seen to be in charge and firm but flexible enough to accommodate the views of its citizens,” Manyora said. “Ruto’s government seems to be learning this the hard way, and that’s why they are conceding and making changes almost at the gen Z gunpoint.”

The unrest may have been sparked by the finance bill, but frustrations have been simmering for years in a country where economic growth has failed to keep up with population growth and generation Z – people born between 1997 and 2012 – has struggled to find employment.

Elected in 2022 on promises to lift up people with low incomes and reduce the cost of living, Ruto has made a series of unpopular financial policy moves, including removing fuel and maize flour subsidies, introducing a housing levy and proposing a health insurance programme with higher costs for contributors.

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