Kenyan Lawmakers Double Down on Taxes Despite Street Protests

Lawmakers aligned to President William Ruto overwhelmingly agreed to keep controversial budget measures to raise as much as $2.4 billion even as police sealed off the national assembly on Thursday to keep anti-tax demonstrators away.

More than 200 members of parliament supported the so-called Finance Bill, while 115 opposed the proposals, National Assembly speaker Moses Wetang’ula said in a live broadcast of proceedings. The bill will undergo a third vote to become law, the speaker said.

After street protests kicked off on Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi, the government agreed to drop, among others, a value-added tax on bread, a ...