Kenya’s President William Ruto has dissolved his entire cabinet, save for the Deputy President and Prime Cabinet Secretary, after weeks of protests by the country’s youth against a controversial finance bill.
Ruto said the decision was taken after “reflection, listening to Kenyans, and after holistic appraisal of my cabinet.”
“I have decided to dismiss with immediate effect all cabinet secretaries and attorney general of the Cabinet of Kenya except the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs. And of course, the office of the Deputy President is not affected in any way,” he said in an address on Thursday, adding that additional measures will be announced in due course.
The fired Cabinet Secretaries have been in office for barely two years, local media outlet the Sun reported. There are also speculations that Ruto is considering the possibility of a “government of national unity” with opposition figures as his way out of the current political crisis triggered by the protests.
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President William Ruto dissolves Cabinet pic.twitter.com/GXZqAeVf7p
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) July 11, 2024
The protests, though deadly after 30 civilians were reported killed, seemed to have resulted in some reforms.
Last week, the president dropped proposed pay increments for members of cabinet and MPs, and later announced budget cuts and several belt-tightening measures including the absorption of 47 state-run organisations and companies with other departments, and the scrapping of offices for presidential spouses.
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