#africanews #taxbill #willaimruto .
Right now the new heroes of Africa are the youths in Kenya also called Kenyan Gen Z. From late last month till now, these guys have been working hard to push their demands on the government and the government has now taken notice. If you have been following the news, you would know that this revolution and drive started when the Kenyan Parliament released the proposed finance bill for the new fiscal year which starts from July this year to June next year. To the surprise of Kenyans who are already dealing with the hike in prices of basic commodities, the members of the Kenyan Parliament added 2.7 billion dollar taxes to be raised in the finance bill. Taxes were imposed on essential items including bread, vegetable oil, diapers, sanitary pads and other items and based on the reports, the Kenyan government decided to impose these taxes on recommendation from the IMF and World Bank, which has been urging the Kenya government to cut deficits to obtain more funds.
However, for the first time, the Gen Z of Kenya took everyone by surprise as they began to organize protests which started from TikTok and other social media and spread until it became a full movement across several communities and counties in the country. The movement for “#OccupyParliament” and “#RejectFinanceBill2024, grew so much so that it garnered attention from the International scene both within and outside Africa. At first, the protest seemed not to have gotten any visible result because, on June 25th, the Members of Kenya Parliament went ahead to pass an amended version of the finance bill, which still included taxes on several commodities. However, while they were still in the Parliament building, the Gen Z protesters somehow managed to break through the right security of the building and enter the Parliament building.
