Debt trap: On crisis in Kenya
The Kenyan President’s decision to rush through Parliament an IMF-backed finance Bill that sought to increase taxes on everything from imported sanitary pads and tyres to bread and fuel backfired, with protesters storming a section of the Parliament on Tuesday. After the protests, which rights groups said had left at least 23 people killed and 200 injured, President William Ruto announced that he would not sign the Bill. The Kenyan government could have avoided this bloody confrontation had it paid more attention to the public mood. The government’s plan was to raise an extra 200 billion Kenyan shilling (some $1.55 billion) in taxes. Earlier this year, the country had reached a deal with the IMF to secure $941 million in additional lending. In subsequent talks in Nairobi, they agreed to...