President of Kenya Announces Government Changes in Response to Wave of Protests
Kenyan President William Ruto, July 2024 Photo: @WilliamsRuto
July 5, 2024 Hour: 8:12 pm
William Ruto, on national television stressed that «the last two weeks have been a difficult time».
Kenyan President William Ruto announced spending cuts this Friday and stressed that changes will occur in the Executive after the anti-government protests that took place in the country since June 18, in which at least 39 people have died, according to local media.
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Ruto, on national television stressed that “the last two weeks have been a difficult time”, reaffirming the death of people in violent events.
“Many have been injured, property has been destroyed and our constitutional institutions attacked,” he added.
As for the spending cuts, according to the Kenyan Government itself, these would be combined with additional loans to cover a budget gap of almost USD 2.7 billion.
That figure has been the result of the suspension of tax increases to appease the violent protests.
This decision represented, according to the president, “a reduction of the state income targets of 346,000 million shillings” (about 2.6 billion dollars).
Regarding this amount, the president promised a budget cut of 177 billion shillings (about $1.3 billion) in the fiscal year that began in July to “borrow the difference”, which will be used to “protecting the financing of critical government services”.
At the same time, he said that “47 state corporations overlapping and duplicating functions will be dissolved” and in parallel “the number of advisers in government will be reduced by 50 percent”.
“The budget lines for the operation of the offices of the first lady and the spouses of the vice president and the first secretary of the Cabinet will be withdrawn,” he added.
In addition, the president added to these measures the “non-essential” travel carried out by state and public officials.
To continue the cuts process, the Government of the African country will also conduct an audit focused on seeking “clarity on the scope and nature of the debt”.
He also warned that all this is added to the changes in the executive that will be announced soon.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: EFE-Reuters
