President William Ruto on Friday took a decisive step, scrapping the budget for the offices of Kenya’s first and second ladies after nationwide protests.
Ruto announced this in a live broadcast on Friday.
He also dissolved 47 agencies, suspending non-essential travels for officials.
Ruto said he is cutting “the number of advisors in government by 50% immediately.”
“The operations of the office of the first lady, second lady and the wife of the prime cabinet will be removed,” Ruto added.
According to the Kenyan president, all non-essential travel by state and public officers “is hereby suspended,” and “no state officer or public servant will participate in harambee.”
He added, “In keeping up with the austerity measures we promised, 47 State corporations with overlapping and duplicating functions to be dissolved and affected staff to be transferred to other ministries.”
For three straight weeks, protesters marched on the streets of Kenya, disrupting commercial activities for the third week since the protests against the Finance Bill broke out on June 18.
However, the protests took a deadly trajectory as protesters occupied the parliament, defying police’s teargas, water cannons and live bullets.
Footages of police opening live rounds on protesters, live bullet shells, and corpses of protesters flood the internet from Kenya, sparking global outrage against Mr Ruto, who, last Wednesday, announced the withdrawal of the bill.
Amnesty International had accused Ruto of deploying snipers to shoot down protesters, calling for his trial at the International Criminal Court.
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported that 39 were killed, hundreds injured, and over 30 enforced disappearances were recorded while lamenting police used “excessive and disproportionate force” on protesters.
Governor of Migori County, Ochillo Ayacko, had also condemned Kenyan police for using brute force against anti-Finance Bill protesters, shooting them in the back as they fled.
However, Ruto, in an interview with journalists on Sunday night, said there was no blood on his hands in pushback against criticisms that he watched police kill protesters before withdrawing the controversial bill.
Earlier, Kenyan authorities declared some anti-Finance bill protesters wanted as the protests run into its third week.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
