Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday dismissed almost all of his Cabinet ministers and promised to form a new government that will be lean and efficient following weeks of protests over high taxes and poor governance.
In a
televised address, the president also dismissed the attorney general and said
ministries will be run by their permanent secretaries.
Ruto
said he made the decision after listening to the people and that he would form
a broad-based government after consultations.
Kenya
has seen three weeks of unrest in which protesters stormed into parliament on
June 25 after a finance bill was passed that proposed tax increases. More than
30 people died in the protests, which have morphed into calls for the president
to resign.
Ruto
said the prime Cabinet secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, a key political ally, would
remain in office.
He said
the dismissals followed “a holistic appraisal of the performance” of the
Cabinet and that the new government would help him “in accelerating and
expediting the necessary, urgent and irreversible implementation of radical
programs to deal with the burden of debt, raising domestic resources, expanding
job opportunities, eliminating wastage and unnecessary duplication of a multiplicity
of government agencies and slay the dragon of corruption.”
Three
ministers resigned from their elected positions to take up ministerial
appointments. Others lost the election and were seen as being awarded by the
president with political appointments.
Several
ministries including agriculture and health have been engulfed by corruption
scandals involving fake fertilizer and misappropriation of funds.
The
protesters accused the Cabinet of incompetence, arrogance and displays of
opulence as Kenyans battle with high taxes and a cost of living crisis.
Demonstrators
called for the president's resignation even though he said he would not sign
the finance bill that proposed higher taxes.
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