Nyali Member of Parliament Mohamed Ali has told Kenyan youth to stop the nationwide anti-government protests over what he describes as a risk of destabilising the country.
The protests, which initially began last month to pressure legislators to shoot down the unpopular Finance Bill, 2024 have since morphed into resistance against President William Ruto’s entire administration.
After Ruto announced last week that he would not assent to the Bill, the youth have been running campaigns online and on the streets, calling for his resignation.
They accuse the Kenya Kwanza administration of incompetence, neglecting its citizens, corruption and a waste of public resources.
But the Nyali MP, who belongs to Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, says the demonstrations – which entered their third week on Tuesday – have posed serious economic consequences to the country and risk running it into instability.
“You have no idea what an unstable country looks like; ask me, I have been to several countries which have been destabilised by dirty politics; South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda,” Ali said on Wednesday during a meeting of UDA legislators and religious leaders in Mombasa.
“They were all good countries that were ruined by the youth through dirty politics and tribalism. Let us not waste our country because of the interests of some people.”
Ali claimed the ongoing protests are backed by unnamed persons with ulterior motives and urged the youth to stop them.
“This is not about the Finance Bill; it was not about it. It is about something else and people are taking advantage of that to destabilise our country,” said the MP.
In his view, Kenyans should give President Ruto’s administration space to lead and wait for the next General Election in 2027 to elect whoever they want.
“People have the power to elect whoever they want in 2027. For now, let us allow President William Ruto to put his house in order. He has rejected the Bill and offered to have a discussion,” Ali said.
He told the youth to “give the police peace of mind”.
“I will also go around the county preaching peace; I don’t care if I will be hit or not,” said the MP, whose office protesters stormed on June 24 over his absence at the National Assembly when his counterparts were voting for the contentious draft law.
Ali, himself a former investigative journalist, further blamed the media for covering the protests, terming it diminishing to the country.
“Stop participating in activities that will ruin this country. Learn to discern what to broadcast and what to censor,” he said.
As of Monday, 39 people had been killed since the anti-government demonstrations began on June 18, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which noted 361 injuries, 32 cases of "enforced or involuntary disappearances" and 627 arrests of protesters.
In Tuesday’s demos, however, there are claims that hired goons infiltrated the largely peaceful protests to disrupt, loot and plunder.
Youth groups were seen charging at police with stones, breaking into premises and burning others in several parts of the country.