During his televised interview Sunday night time President Wiliam Ruto was hard-pressed to defend the federal government’s response to days of nationwide protest in opposition to the Finance Bill 2024.
The Standard analysed the claims made by the president to help his arguments and fact-checked a number of the key claims he put forth.
Below is what we came upon
“19 people according to the records that I have from the securities agencies are dead.”
When confronted on the lack of life and stories that 23 individuals misplaced their lives during the protests, President Ruto insisted that the confirmed variety of victims was 19.
There have been conflicting stories on the variety of those who died during final Tuesday’s protests.
There isn’t any official assertion from the Kenya Police, Kenya Red Cross, and different authorities businesses actively engaged within the protests.
Several human rights teams together with Haki Africa, Kenya National Human Rights Commission, Police Reforms Working Group and Kenya Human Rights Commission put the variety of those who died between 21 and 23.
According to Human Rights Watch, though there is no such thing as a affirmation on the precise variety of individuals killed in Nairobi and different cities, “at least 30 people were killed on that day based on witness accounts, publicly available information, hospital and mortuary records in Nairobi, as well as witness accounts in Nakuru, Eldoret, and Meru.”
The president’s declare that 19 individuals misplaced their lives is thus understated.
“Sh2.4 billion worth of property has been destroyed.”
President Wiliam Ruto claimed that Sh2.4 billion value of property had been destroyed as a direct results of the anti-Finance Bill 2024 protests witnessed throughout a number of cities.
There have been a number of reported instances of injury to private and non-private property in a number of places countrywide.
These embody Nairobi the place components of Parliament, the Supreme Court buildings and City Hall had been set ablaze.
Stay knowledgeable. Subscribe to our publication
Protesters are additionally reported to have broken workplaces and personal property belonging to members of parliament in Naivasha, Nakuru, Eldoret and different components of the nation.
However, the determine of Sh2.4 billion is tough to confirm and as but has no official supply to collaborate.
Kenya’s enterprise foyer teams together with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, KEPSA and the Kenya Associasion of Manufacturers have each launched statements following the protests however stopped wanting placing a determine to the property that was broken or destroyed.
The president’s declare that Sh2.4 billion value of property was destroyed is unproven.
“When I came into office I said there will be no extra judicial killings in Kenya and I have made sure that there is no extra judicial killing in Kenya.”
According to Amnesty International, there have been 136 instances of extrajudicial executions in 2023 together with 57 protesters who died during the Azimio demos in opposition to the price of dwelling disaster.
“Trials of police officers accused of unlawful killings were repeatedly delayed,” defined Amnesty International in its newest report on Kenya.
There had been 136 extrajudicial executions during the yr. Most of the victims died whereas in police custody or had final been seen in police custody. Only 28 instances, together with from earlier years, had been topic to judicial proceedings.
Amnesty International additional states that progress in direction of holding cops accountable for extrajudicial killings has been non-existent, together with within the case of no less than 37 our bodies present in Yala River, and different our bodies discovered elsewhere in 2022.
The president’s declare that he has put an finish to extrajudicial killings is thus false.
“In 2013 the debt stock of Kenya was Sh1.8 trillion. For 10 years, that increased five times to Sh11 trillion. Today we do not have the luxury to borrow because we have reached the limit. All the money that we borrowed from 2013 is maturing. That is why the biggest challenge we have as a nation is we are spending Sh1.1 trillion every year of taxes we collect from Kenyans to pay debt, and that is interest alone.”
According to paperwork from the National Treasury, Kenya’s public debt stood at Sh1.894 trillion in 2013 translating to 51.7 % of GDP. This included Sh1 trillion in home debt and Sh843.5 billion in exterior debt.
As a share of income, complete debt service stood at 18.7 per cent in June 2013, which means that for each ten shillings collected in taxes, two shillings went to pay the general public debt.
As at June 2023, Kenya’s public debt stood at Sh10.2 trillion translating to 70 % of GDP. This debt inventory is comprised of Sh5.4 trillion in exterior debt and Sh4.8 trillion home debt.
Kenya’s debt service prices as on the finish of June 2023 was 58.8 % of income, indicating that for each Sh10 collected in income, 6 shillings go in direction of repaying the general public debt.
The president’s declare on the nation’s debt burden is factual.
“In 2022 we had 1 million tourists, last year we had 2 million and God-willing we expect to record 2.7 million this year. Call the tourism Sector, they will tell you themselves that all hotels in Kenya today are operating 80 percent upwards which is a new phenomenon in Kenya.”
According to the 2024 Economic Survey from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, KNBS, the variety of worldwide customer arrivals to the nation final yr stood at 2 million, a rise of 35 % in comparison with 2022.
Hotel bed-nights occupancy went up 23 % from 7 million in 2022 to 8.6 million in 2023 with Kenyan residents accounting for greater than half thetotal occupancy final yr.
However, based on the info, the month-to-month resort mattress occupancy charges for 2022 and 2023 ranged between 21 % and 32 per cent.
The president’s assertion of accommodations within the nation recording 80 per cent mattress occupancy is thus not true.
