Will Kenya’s government reshuffle ease protests? | Politics

Aljazeera.net correspondents

Nairobi- The new Kenyan government took the constitutional oath today, Thursday, before the President of the Republic. William RutoAfter the Kenyan parliament approved 19 ministers a day ago, and rejected one name pending scrutiny of his eligibility for the ministerial position, before re-voting.

The swearing-in ceremony came just 27 days after the president sacked all his former cabinet ministers, except Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi, in an attempt to calm the tense situation in the country.

But the president reappointed a number of ministers from the previous government, most notably Keithor Kindiki, whom he confirmed as Minister of the Interior, sparking controversy over the seriousness of his decision to dissolve the government.

trying to contain anger

Last June, there were bloody popular demonstrations in the capital, Nairobi, due to the parliament’s approval of a budget law that included an unprecedented increase in taxes, which led to the killing of dozens of demonstrators by security forces, and forced President Ruto to withdraw the law.

But this measure did not contribute to calming the situation, especially with the shift in demands to remove the president from power, which forced him to dismiss the government and appoint another coalition government, with the participation of 5 names from the opposition, in a new attempt to calm the atmosphere.

In this context, Kenyan journalist James Wanzala told Al Jazeera Net that the president did not succeed in absorbing the anger of his opponents, after he re-appointed old figures from the previous government as members of the new government, which may represent an obstacle to the credibility of its work in the future.

For his part, Cormac (22 years old), one of the activists in the demonstrations against the Kenyan president, told Al Jazeera Net that Ruto proved by reappointing controversial ministers that he will not take any step towards meeting the demands of the protesters, which are to fight corruption of the political class in particular, and to stop the rise in the cost of living.

The government's swearing-in ceremony on Thursday coincided with popular demonstrations called for by a number of social media activists. Although the demonstrations were in the center of the capital, Nairobi It was not as massive as the ones that took place in June and July, but it did witness the participation of dozens of young people demanding the removal of President Ruto. Police responded by firing tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Journalist Wanzala believes that the absence of real leadership for the demonstrators, and their being limited to calls by activists on social media, has gradually made them lose their momentum, especially with the absence of political figures who can negotiate with the president to meet the demands.

Bangladesh scenario

One of the Kenyan activists in the protests, who asked not to be identified, told Al Jazeera Net that the events Bangladesh This week's protests encouraged them to go out and participate in the demonstrations, to try to implement this scenario in Kenya, but she ruled that out after she was sure that the police were determined to suppress the demonstrations and not stand with the demonstrators, according to her.

For his part, journalist Wanzala ruled out a repetition of the Bangladeshi scenario, as he believes that Kenyans are divided between opponents and supporters, and that the demonstrations are limited to the capital and sometimes in some other cities, and are not spread throughout the country as happened in Bangladesh.

He also believes that Ruto has been relatively successful in absorbing the anger of a large section of his opponents by dissolving the previous government and bringing in opposition figures, which has weakened the protests against him, something that the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh did not succeed in doing. Hasina Wajid.

However, Mr. Omwanza Omuza, a student union leader at Mount Kenya University, told Al Jazeera Net that they will work to re-mobilize anti-Ruto students after the university resumes in September to protest and take to the streets, with the aim of meeting the protesters’ demands.