Kenyan Opposition Leader Odinga Ready to Talk Amid Protests

David Herbling
·1 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- The leader of Kenya’s main opposition coalition Raila Odinga said he’s ready to hold talks with the government even as he vowed to continue with demonstrations to demand tax cuts and an audit of last year’s elections that brought President William Ruto to power.

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At least 50 people have died so far in the protests, Odinga’s Azimio coalition said in statement on Monday. The Independent Medico Legal Unit, a Nairobi-based nonprofit that tracks cases of torture and extra-judicial killings, placed the death toll from five days of protests in July alone at 35.

Manufacturers estimate that the unrest is costing them 2.6 billion shillings ($18 million) each day.

“I am ready to sit to discuss” how to resolve the standoff, Odinga told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday. An attempt by Tanzanian President Suluhu Hassan to facilitate dialog had however borne no fruit, and Ruto “is pretending that we don’t have a crisis,” he said.

Read More: What Is Behind Kenya’s Deadly Opposition Protests: QuickTake

The protests were suspended in April after the government agreed to talks with the opposition, but resumed this month following the introduction of additional levies — including a doubling of value-added tax on fuel.

The government could have sought debt relief, including rescheduling its local and international debt, to shore up its finances, Odinga said. “It chose to burden citizens with taxes.”

(Updates death toll in second paragraph)

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