Kenya’s president dismisses almost entire cabinet amid simmering discontent

Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday (11 July) fired almost all the ministers in his cabinet, including the attorney general, with immediate effect and promised to form a new government as the current one has struggled with discontent over a cost-of-living crisis and the East African country’s debt.
In a televised address, Ruto promised that the new cabinet will be lean and efficient, run by their permanent secretaries, after three weeks of protests over high taxes and poor governance in which protesters stormed into parliament on 25 June after it passed a finance bill that proposed tax increases. 39 people had been killed and 361 were injured in the countrywide protests, according to Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). The president also said that Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi, a key ally, and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, would remain in their positions.
Ruto also noted he made the decision after listening to the people and that he would form a broad-based government after “extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations and other Kenyans, both in public and private, with the aim of setting up a broad-based government.” When Ruto appointed 21 cabinet ministers following his election in 2022, critics accused him of choosing political cronies and departing from the previous practice of picking technocrats to be in charge of ministries. The deadly protests are widely seen as a turning point that forced the president to back down on planned tax hikes.