President William Ruto has confirmed his planned engagement with the youth on X Spaces on Friday, July 5, 2024.
In a poster shared on his social media pages, Ruto announced that the engagement would be held from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Cabinet Secretaries are expected to join the X Space as confirmed by State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed through a cabinet despatch after a cabinet meeting on Thursday, July 4, 2024.
“Cabinet is scheduled to join His Excellency the President tomorrow Friday, 5th July 2024, as the Head of State and Government hosts his inaugural X-Space conversation with the youth of Kenya. All Kenyans are welcome to contribute to this dialogue as part of our collective effort to foster national renewal and create a better Kenya for all,” Mohamed said.
The engagement follows a series of demonstrations spearheaded by the youth, who are voicing their concerns over the direction the government is taking.
The youth have been complaining of punitive tax laws, corruption among senior government officials and bad governance in certain ministries. They have also been complaining of mistreatment and extrajudicial killings by the police during protests.
The youth started their demonstrations in June in protest against the tax measures proposed in the Finance Bill 2024.
In a statement on Thursday, July 4, 2024, the State House said the demonstrations were infiltrated, hijacked and taken over by criminal and opportunistic political forces.
“The two groups have in the past two weeks reigned terror on the people of Kenya in the cities, towns and other urban areas, occassioning loss of life, destruction of National and County governments’ buildings, infrastructure, vehicles, homes and businesses,” a statement from State House read in part.
“Due to the threat posed to Parliament, the Supreme Court and other infrastructure, the Cabinet was informed that all national security agencies, including the military, were deployed to forestall the break down of law and order.”
Ruto’s cabinet
The Cabinet was also informed that the security agencies have stabilised the situation and are continuing to monitor the developments.
The members commended security officers, pointing out that they on the whole acted professionally in very difficult circumstances. The Cabinet also noted that security agencies did a good job of protecting the country from anarchists.
The President said the government must now focus on charting a new future for the country, pointing out that significant changes must be made to align with that new future.