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Protests in Kenya

Hey guys, I'm not sure if you've heard, but there are protests happening in Kenya. As someone living in Kenya, I want to keep you updated and inform of what happening, preferably as soon as possible (I've already delayed like a week) before the internet cuts become more serious (which hopefully it doesn't, but you never know. Or there might be national blackout)

Okay, let's start with some context. So I believe it was last Sunday, June 16th was when the Finance Bill was introduced. The Finance Bill basically goes over the budget for the government, and the measures the government is going to take to finance the budget. This bill was widely unpopular because of the amount of taxes introduced on basic necessities, such as bread, feminine hygiene products (pads and stuff), diapers, cars (not buying a new car, but literally just having one on the road), vegetable oil, fuel, and sugar. They even taxed medical treatments, such as cancer treatments and Mpesa, which is a mobile money service that so many across the country use to send and receive money, as well as pay for anything.

This is coupled by the fact that the government doesn't really do all too much for the average Kenyan, so all these extra taxes will not come back to the people. Just in the past month, our president, William Ruto, was going from country to country on our tax dollars. Just in this year alone he has done 20 international visits, and the year is only about halfway done. A lot of the tax dollars go to 'confidential expenditures', which is just whatever the officials want it to be. All of this money being spent by top government officials, but our public school system is not good, we still get frequent power outages (unless you live near State House (where the president lives)), water isn't guaranteed (my family once had no municipal water for months, and had to buy a water tank and supply our own water), youth unemployment is high, healthcare is lacking, the roads are not well built, the cost of living is higher than it's ever been, the shilling is doing badly (especially against the dollar) among many other issues.

So, fed up with all of this excessive taxation, and the corruption of the politicians, many people, especially young people have taken into the streets to protest. If you read Kenyan news, you may hear the word 'maandamano' being used to describe it, just know that it means protests, basically. Starting in Nairobi City Center (or Town, as it's locally called), the protests have spread across the country to almost every major city. Of course with protests comes police pushback.

Teargas has been used against the crowds, although some protestors are brave enough to just through it back to the police. Water cannons have been used, and recently guns. At least 5 people have died in the protests, with a couple hundred injured.

Amidst all of this, the government has decided to amend some parts of the bill, getting rid of some taxes, such as the taxes on cars and Mpesa, or changing some, such as now only imported feminine hygiene products and diapers will be taxed; domestic ones will not. This happened late last week, I believe Friday June 21st or so, and is expected to go into effect July 1st. However, this is still not enough, as the protestors were calling for the bill to be rejected completely, and led to more protests happening yesterday, Tuesday, June 25th, and more planned for tomorrow (Thursday, June 27th). Yesterdays protests were a lot more intense, with the parliment building being breached and set on fire (it didn't burn down in it's entirety), and the crowds being larger than usual.

This led to Safaricom, one of the biggest internet and cell service providers to basically disconnect us yesterday afternoon. As someone who has a Safaricom sim card and home internet, I can confirm that the internet was unbearably slow. Some social media sites, such as Youtube or Pinterest worked, although many things didn't load. Snapchat and Whatsapp worked as well, faster than the first two, but still noticeably slower. I could not get into Tumblr at all yesterday, which is what prompted me to write this long text post. If I disappear for a couple of days, you know what happens. There's also the possibility of a national blackout, but that's kinda not new. Sometimes, Kenya Power is just 'silly' and there's no power in the entire country. It's happened at least once in the past year.

So, what can you do? Personally, I think just being aware and speaking about this is probably one of the best things to do for now. Other than a national blackout, I don't see this situation devolving into full-scale violence, and I'm hoping really hard that it doesn't. If you have any friends or relative in Kenya, perhaps reach out to them and make sure that they're okay. In addition, as you keep the situation of Kenya in mind, be sure to also keep in mind what's happening in other parts of the world, such as Palestine, Congo, and Sudan. We're not free until everyone is free.

Anyways, thanks for reading, I'll drop links for further info below.

PS. I forgot to mention that firstly, we've sent police to Haiti, even though I'm fairly sure that we're not allowed to do that. Secondly, the government has threatened to shut down KTN, a major news broadcasting service in response to this.

PPS. I forgot to mention that this isn't the first time that there were protests against him. It happened around summertime last year as well, although those protests were organized by his main opposition, Raila Odinga, who was basically pulling a Trump. I believe the national blackout happened in the midst of all of that, so my fear for a national blackout is not unfounded.

Update (27/6/24) : So, the finance bill has passed in Parliament, but Ruto has refused to sign it, which you might consider a win, right? Well, not really. Since Parliament has already passed it, if they don't rescind it, it will become law in 21 days. All he's done is kinda bought himself time to oppress the protestors since if Parliament doesn't' rescind it, it'll go into effect later than July 1st.

I'm trying to see if I can find what the government has allocated funds to in order to paint a picture of how the government is misuing our tax money, but I can't seem to find a credible source, just things put on social media. A starting point, for sure. I'll be back this afternoon to continue looking

Also, I'm okay! I'm safe, and will most likely be for the time being! There are some protests near my house but I personally have not physically been at the protests. Today is another scheduled day for protests, so we'll see what comes out of this (hopefully no violence, but I did talk to a guy who went Tuesday, and he said that someone got shot right next to him, so... yikes.)

Okay, I'm back, and here's what I found. This article from the Nation, a Kenyan news source, goes over the budget for the deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua. These figures seemed to be the source of what many on social media are quoting, so I'll link the article here.

Nation

MPs question allocation of Sh2.6bn for renovation of Gachagua’s office

Lawmakers take issue with an allocation to renovate the DP's Harambee Annex office and Karen residence.

As well as this video from Tiktok that goes over what the article is saying:

I will list the prices in the infochart from the Tiktok in USD so you can get a sense of how much money this is. Keep in mind that this is just for DP Gachagua alone. Conversion rate is 100 shillings to 0.77 dollars.

Karen Home Renovation (For context, Karen is a wealthy residential area in Nairobi where the deputy president lives): $5,106,382.97 (5.1 million)

Harambee Annex Office (His office) Refurbishment: $3,558,994.19 (3.56 million)

Confidential Expenditure (Whatever he wants it to be without reporting what exactly it was): $6,808,510.63 (6.8 million)

Drug Abuse Fight*: $1,934,235.98 (1.9 million)

Medals: $1,934,235.98 (1.9 million)

Motor Vehicles: $1,547,388.78 (1.5 million)

Household Appliances: $19,342.36

Office Furniture: $290,135.40

Educational Aids*: $15,473.89

Laundry: $16,247.58

Internet Connection: $77,369.44

Accomodation: $704,061.89

Gas: 4,023.21

*The reason the person in the video laughed at this is because politicians here have a history of allocating funds to public works but the money gets taken. That's why a lot of roads are half finished, some official took the money that was meant to finish the road.

Also, to give a sense of the purchasing power of the Kenyan shilling, my daily commute costs about 160 ksh. A six pack of hot dog rolls is 120. Snickers is like 224. I got oatmeal and chia seeds for 789. Some Sony Bluetooth headphones are going for about 7,000. So please let that sink it how much money that is, and why we're so mad and insistent on not paying any more taxes.

(7/24/7: Reblogged this with more updates.)

en.wikipedia.org

List of international presidential trips made by William Ruto - Wikipedia

List of international presidential trips made by William Ruto - Wikipedia

http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2024-05/Finance%20Bill%2C%202024_0.pdf

Amnesty International

Authorities in Kenya must release all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained.

These abductions of at least 12 people, which have occurred over the last five days and intensified last night, are a gross violation of hum

Al Jazeera

Several killed as Kenyan police open fire on anti-tax bill protesters

Parts of Parliament building set ablaze as crowd attempts to storm the complex in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

All entertainment value aside, Commander Peepers’ whole relationship with Sylvia is a major step in his character development. I say this because until the writers started to pair them up, he hadn’t seriously engaged with any character other than Lord Hater, not even in a negative way. 

A friendship with another Watchdog is out of the question; he’s effectively rejected his own species. The only episode focusing on his relationship with Wander, Season 1’s “The Prisoner,” provides some helpful insight within itself as to why it doesn’t have a sequel; unlike Hater, who regards Wander as an enemy and a threat, Peepers just can’t take the scruffy space hobo seriously. Their dynamic is nicely summed up when he takes advantage of Wander’s catlike distractibility by luring him into a cell with a laser pointer. To Peepers, Wander is a literal pest, a furry nuisance barely worthy of the time it takes to call an exterminator. Despite several episodes in which his all-important relationship with Hater is threatened by Wander’s presence, he never regards Wander himself (“a happy-go-lucky do-gooder who just wants to be your friend”) with any real anger or concern, preferring to concentrate in his singleminded way on Hater and his flaws. (The end of “The Buddies” has him angrily destroying a collection of his Lord Hater memorabilia, putting the blame squarely on Hater for what he sees as a personal betrayal; in “The Big Day” he crashes the pseudo-wedding on the Skullship but doesn’t have a word to say to Wander, instead confronting Hater about his failure to deliver on their planet-destroying plans.) And so despite the fact that the essential conflict of the show is rooted in their clashing visions for Lord Hater’s future, Wander and Peepers have barely interacted in two seasons; a promising enmity is cut off by sheer lack of interest.

He’s nearly, if not quite, as dispassionate about other rivals; he has plenty of reason to hate Emperor Awesome–who’s beaten up on him and mocked him personally in the sort of way that would make Hater blow a fuse–but in the long run he doesn’t pay him much mind unless he’s posing a possible threat, otherwise regarding him as a washup who “hasn’t been a contender in ages.” Hater always cares intensely about Awesome, whether as a bitter foe or as a potential asset to his popularity; Peepers measures him strictly in terms of his leaderboard standing at a given moment and is equally inconvenienced whether Hater attempts to embrace him (“The Cool Guy”) or wring his neck (“The Bad Neighbors”). It’s all part of a pattern which Peepers consistently exhibits: a tendency to refuse any kind of emotional contact with anyone around him, except for Hater, in whom he is entirely wrapped up. Asked if Peepers has ever privately wished for an intellectual equal on the Skullship, Dave Thomas summed it up pretty accurately: “He only has eyes for Hater. Or um.. Eye.”

So, while the moment of understanding between Sylvia and Peepers in “The Battle Royale” is important for Sylvia–changing the way she interacts with both Peepers and Hater–for Peepers it’s groundbreaking. 

It’s the first time he’s found, or admitted to, any commonality whatsoever with anyone other than Hater, with whom he mostly shares a burning need to blow stuff up. Even here, the thought process is necessarily about Hater–what he’s realizing is that he’s not the only one in the predicament of having “a fool for a friend.” The minute it sinks in for him that somebody else has her own Hater, he goes right beyond just understanding her and starts to empathize. 

The moment becomes a reference point for their interactions from thereon in: he’s easily able to take it for granted that when it comes to “your idiot and my idiot,” she’ll understand him as he does her (“Look, you know as well as I do that…this will never end”). He puts her on his mental level–something he doesn’t even do for Hater, with good reason–treating her as not only an equal but a rough equivalent for himself. By “My Fair Hatey,” he’s letting her in on an elaborate plan he’s constructed to take down Dominator, his own army being somewhat wrapped up in staging a musical number elsewhere. He frequently acknowledges the fact that their goal at a given moment is the same, taking it from the basic shared endgame of keeping their friends out of danger (“For their–and our!–own good, we have to stop them!”) all the way to eliminating the source of the danger itself (“Dominator will bother us no more”–note the us).

And this in itself would be a remarkable progression, but it goes a step further: he has fun with her.

The fact that their alliance in “My Fair Hatey” is a practical one doesn’t prevent them from spending most of their subplot having a brilliant time. Like Hater, Sylvia is a great channel for Peepers’ fundamental need to knock things senseless, yet she’s not just a strategic tool but a responsive mind: he likes having her around to clobber some bots with.

In a way, “My Fair Hatey” shows Hater and Peepers overcoming the same fundamental problem: they’re both singlemindedly obsessed with Hater. For Peepers to be out on a (tactical) joyride, enjoying the company of someone who isn’t Hater, is just as definite a break in character as Hater’s soaring declaration that someone other than himself is “the greatest in the galaxy.” 

Season 1 Peepers:

Hater: ARE YOU TELLING ME WHAT TO DO, PEEPERS!? Peepers: O-of course not sir! Carry on!

Season 2 Peepers:

*dragging Hater* Peepers: I WANT YOU TO GO TO YOUR ROOM AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!

Peepers comforting Hater

Will never forget how long the 2-metre walk from my bed to the window in the morning of 24.02.2022 felt as I was desperately trying to persuade myself that the booming, earth-shaking sound was just an unusually vicious thunder, and simultaneously thinking 'what if I pull the curtains open and there is no rain?' I pulled the curtains open, and there was no rain. No thunder clouds. Just the faces of neighbours also woken up by the missile explosions looking out of the window. That's when I understood that the war began.

Here's a reminder that Ukraine still needs donations badly to fight off the invasion.

United 24 and Come Back Alive are both verified charities that support the Ukrainian military. They offer various options, for example, collecting money for medical equipment, humanitarian demining and rebuilding Ukraine if someone doesn't feel comfortable donating towards weapons.

This is happening 🍉TOMORROW🍉 we don’t have long to spread the word please reblog and take this photo and post it yourself on all your socials and follow @/wizard_bisan1 on Instagram!

utraklli.