How debt and taxes robbed young people in Nairobi's slums of the prospect of a greater life

In summer 2024 Young Kenyans took to the streets the capital Nairobi in a series of anti-government demonstrations.

The “Generation Z“Protests, the unrest was triggered by the introduction of a unpopular financial law in mid-JuneA month later, the bill withdrawnhowever the protests continued and no less than 50 people were killed in the next police crackdown on demonstrators.

But the roots of the protests return to the summer. Kenyans have been dissatisfied with the country's economy ever since. no less than mid-2023when the primary protests began. And while the catalyst for these recent demonstrations could have been a series of tax increases proposed within the Finance Bill, the issues facing young Kenyans go far beyond this issue.

For greater than a decade I even have been Exploring the slums in Nairobi and to talk to low-income residents of the capital. I even have watched Generation Z grow up since 2010, when some were just 5 years old. That same 12 months, Kenya passed a recent structure which guaranteed all Kenyans that they might have all rights, including decent and reasonably priced housing, clean water, health, equality, freedom of assembly, freedom from violence and the fitting of youngsters to basic education. In short, the poor members of Generation Z were promised a path to a good life.

The Failure of the Kenyan government The unwillingness to deliver on this promise is the backdrop to the deep-rooted grievances of Kenya's poor, which found expression in widespread protests this summer.

Hardness and promise

The epicenter of the present protests is Nairobi, a city through which around 70% of the population live in slums – informal settlements with poor infrastructure.

Most of the inhabitants of Nairobi’s slums live in extreme poverty, meaning they living on just just a few dollars a dayWith such meager incomes, life has turn into unbearable for a lot of attributable to the rising cost of living in recent times, directly undermining the promise of the 2010 Constitution.

Kenyan governments have did not deliver on their guarantees for a lot of reasons, but primarily economic and institutional. for health care reform and housingwhich led to increased funding for the National Health Insurance Fund and recent housing across the town. Yet healthcare and everlasting housing remain unaffordable for nearly all of Nairobi's slum dwellers. Funding for clean drinking water has led to more public water taps, but not enough to shorten the typical slum dweller's every day walk. At the identical time, improved access to high school textbooks doesn’t help those that cannot afford them, and enhancements in sanitation in Kenya are marginal.

In 2022, newly elected Kenyan President William Ruto promised to cut back the price of living, but his failure to achieve this has only fuelled recent protests. Inflation fluctuated between about 6% and almost 8% since 2021. The typical monthly cost, even without rent, has risen to $533, or about $6,000 per 12 months. But the average annual income per person in 2023 it was only $2,110.

In the meantime Heavy rainfall have worsened the plight of many individuals in Kenya. Rainfall from October 2023 to May 2024 led to the worst floods the country has experienced since 1997. They not only claimed the lives of nearly 300 people and Displacement of around 278,380The rains destroyed 168,000 acres of farmland and killed over 11,000 animals.

Slums on the river banks of the capital were washed away, while the federal government has For safety reasons, 40,000 houses remained inside 30 meters (about 100 feet) of the Nairobi River, but no temporary shelter was offered, leaving many homeless.

Who is protesting?

As a results of years of economic hardship, exacerbated by this environmental disaster, the situation was already unsettled before the summer. Then, in June 2024, the Kenyan government published the budget. It included recent tax increasesincluding a 16% tax on bread, 25% tax on cooking oil and taxes on family necessities akin to diapers and female hygiene products.

Kenya is a young country with a mean age of approx. 20 years oldIn Nairobi’s population of around 5.5 million people, these Age 19 to 22 represent the bulk.

These are the youth of Nairobi who led the protests, Storming of the National Assembly on June 25, when politicians sought refuge in an underground tunnel.

On June 26, Ruto withdrawn the proposed tax increases. In further concessions dismissed most of his cabinetAnd Kenya's police chief has resigned in light of allegations of police violence against demonstrators.

But Generation Z remained dissatisfied and continued to protest.

This should come as no surprise. While the repeal of the tax law addressed immediate concerns, nothing was promised to deal with the deep-seated economic and social problems that young, poor Kenyans have told me about over time.

“Sometimes, or no less than more often than not, the cash earmarked for poverty alleviation within the slums finally ends up getting used for other things. … [It is either] “There is theft or corruption, and little is left to benefit the community,” a resident of Mukuru slum told me in 2020. Another said, “Our problems are passed from one government to the next. They come to the elections to canvass for votes and then leave, never to do anything meaningful again.”

Servicing foreign loans

Poor economic management and Kenya's rising national debt are largely answerable for the shortage of cash available for poverty reduction. Around 60 percent of Kenya's tax revenues is used to repay foreign debtand the remaining 40% are sparsely distributed.

Under Ruto, the national debt grew to around 80 billion US dollars – that is sort of three quarters of Kenya's gross domestic product. This amount puts the country in a high-risk category for default. The burden of servicing this public debt is already enormous, and a default could damage the Kenyan economy even further.

Fear of default was the rationale for the proposed tax increase. However, if the brand new tax law had been passed, it will have resulted in a widespread financial setback for households of all income groups. Higher-income Kenyans would have a combined rate of 40% each yearThere were also quite a few regressive taxes, akin to sales and value added taxes, that might have disproportionately affected Kenya's poorest. The oil tax, for instance, was to be increased from 8% to 16%.

Stolen guarantees

Repealing the tax law has not solved Kenya's problems. 19 AugustKenya's recent finance minister said a few of the proposed taxes can be introduced since the country must service its foreign debt.

But the controversy over servicing foreign debt is doing little to assist Generation Z in Nairobi's slums. What they need, as one young slum dweller I spoke to in 2020 put it, is “modern housing, manufacturing companies that create jobs, health programs, better roads, education, job training, better security and increased food production.”

All this was promised to them 14 years ago in Kenya's amended structure – but those guarantees appear to have been taken away because the country's government seeks to balance its budget and tackle rising and unsustainable external debt.