A looming financial crisis

Kenyan police using a water cannon to disperse anti-finance bill protesters in Nairobi. After a new tax increase incited weeks of deadly riots in Kenya early this summer, President Ruto (left) announced that he was reversing course and abandoning the finance law he had proposed. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

AFTER weeks of deadly riots in Kenya sparked by a new tax increase earlier this summer, President William Ruto announced a U-turn. He abandoned his proposed finance law and reshuffled his Cabinet.

Then, the government reversed course once again, with the newly appointed finance minister announcing the reintroduction of some of the discarded tax increases.