Kenyan President Raises Ministers Fired Again To New Cabinet Amid Country Chaos

Kenyan President William Ruto/PHOTO via X @WilliamsRuto

JAKARTA - Kenyan President William Ruto again appointed a number of ministers who had just been fired last week to re-enter the government cabinet.

Reported by Reuters, in a televised address on Friday, July 19, Ruto announced 11 appointments of six people from the previous cabinet and others will soon follow.

Last week's mass shooting was a concession to a youth-led protest lawsuit that forced him to withdraw a proposed USD 2.7 billion tax increase amid the biggest crisis in his two-year term as president.

One of them, Hanifa Farsafi, posted a list of nominations on X with the words "DITOLAK" with a red stamp.

The protests trapped Ruto between pressure from lenders to pay off high debts and people who were shaken by the high cost of living. The government has proposed saving measures to narrow down the deficit caused by delays in proposed tax increases.

Kenyan media previously reported that several members of the political opposition would most likely be appointed in Ruto's new cabinet.

Protesters opposed the idea of a unity government, and said that the agreement between competing coalitions would only perpetuate the tradition in Kenyan politics in which leaders co-opted the opposition with jobs and allowances while the community felt no benefits whatsoever.