Who's behind the riots in Kenya.

Kenyan President Reveals Who Is Behind the Protests in the Country, 07.15.2024.

Kenyan President: US Ford Foundation Behind Country's Protests.

MOSCOW, July 15 — RIA Novosti. Kenyan President William Ruto has accused the American Ford Foundation of inciting mass protests in the country, the local publication Standard writes .

"We know who is sponsoring the violence, and I want to hold accountable all those who are behind the anarchy in Kenya.

<...> If they (the Ford Foundation - Ed.) are not interested in democracy in Kenya, they should either change their style or leave," the media quotes him as saying.

The Ford Foundation, founded in 1936, says its website focuses on promoting democracy and in East Africa it supports "open civic space, civil society and public dialogue with government."

A new wave of mass protests in Kenya over government plans to raise taxes on a range of goods and services began in mid-June. President Ruto announced the government's readiness to begin a dialogue with the protesters. The police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

In late June, Ruto said he would not sign the budget bill that sparked widespread protests in the country, and later launched a formal process to withdraw the bill. According to the latest figures from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), at least 39 people have died in the protests.

https://ria.ru/20240715/keniya-1959889484.html

Unrest escalates again in Kenya, 07.16.2024.

Nationwide protests broke out a month ago over proposed tax hikes.

Kenya experienced further unrest on Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi, and other regions. Police fired tear gas at anti-government protesters, who persist in demanding the resignation of President William Ruto.

Nationwide protests that erupted a month ago over proposed tax increases, have continued unabated even after President Ruto withdrew the tax bill on June 26 and dismissed almost his entire cabinet on July 11.

Alleged poor governance, corruption, as well as the deaths of demonstrators at previous rallies, are among the concerns of protesters. On Tuesday, police used tear gas in Kitengela, a municipality near Nairobi, where around 200 protesters burned tires and chanted slogans against Ruto. Demonstrators in Nairobi’s city center and Mombasa also encountered tear gas.

RT’s correspondent asked one of the protesters to explain why citizens had taken to the streets. “We are just saying stop corruption in the government … We want to clean Kenya,” the protester said. Local news outlets reported protesters holding placards calling for an audit of the national debt. Other demonstrators blocked the Katarina-Nairobi highway.

The government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reported that at least 50 people have been killed so far in the general unrest, which has been going on for weeks.

On Monday, Ruto accused the Ford Foundation of having financed the protests but offered no evidence to support his claim. The social justice-promoting organization denied these allegations, stating that it does not fund protests and adheres to a non-partisan policy.

The cabinet reshuffle in July was the second by the president of the East African country. Earlier in 2023, Ruto replaced the heads of eight ministries in an effort to quell public anger over the nation’s economic difficulties.

According to a recent report by Kenya’s central bank, Nairobi’s domestic and foreign public debt totals more than $80 billion, with debt servicing accounting for approximately 60% of the country’s revenues.

President Ruto, who had promoted the Finance Bill as a necessary reform to secure IMF funding and avoid debt default, has said his government is considering alternative measures, including budget cuts for his office.

https://www.rt.com/africa/601160-kenya-protest-tear-gas-fired/

Do not know if it is true in this case but yes the Ford foundation has been one of those sneaky NGOs "fostering democracy and human rights" wherever a county is not obeying the neolib "rules based" world order.

With Friends Like These: What’s Known About US Nonprofit Accused of Fueling Kenya Unrest, by Ilya Tsukanov for Sputnikglobe.com. 07.17.2024.

Large-scale youth-led street protests have rocked Kenya's capital, with over a dozen people killed and hundreds injured to date amid growing calls for the president's resignation. This week, Nairobi accused a major US intelligence-connected foundation of involvement.

Kenya has been engulfed in mass protests escalating into riots over the past month over a now vetoed tax reform bill, corruption charges and allegations of police brutality. On Monday, President William Ruto, a key US ally in the region, accused the Ford Foundation, a leading American philanthropic organization of funding forces behind the protests. Here’s what we know about it:

• Created in 1936 by US industrialist Henry Ford in response to Franklin Roosevelt’s 70% taxation scheme on large inheritances, the NYC-based foundation initially limited its activities to the US, providing funding for the Henry Ford Hospital, the Henry Ford Museum, the National Educational Television (NET) broadcaster, and similar initiatives.

• The foundation began its outward expansion in 1952, opening an office in New Delhi, India and providing grants for NGOs and educational institutions, social research and 'leadership training'.

• Back in the US, through the 1960s and 70s, the foundation provided funding for an array of liberal causes, from civil rights to abortion.

• During the Cold War, the foundation served as what US sociology professor James Petras has described as a “CIA front,” providing grants to the US intelligence cutout Congress for Cultural Freedom, and sponsoring the NYC-based Russian-language Chekhov Publishing House.

• Like George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation entered Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet space in the 1980s and 1990s, ostensibly to ‘promote democratic and economic reforms’. In Russia alone, the foundation spent $140 mln toward these goals before being formally kicked out in 2015 as an 'undesirable organization'.

• The foundation has been active in developing countries as well, providing seed money for Muhammad Yunus’s microcredit scheme in Bangladesh, and supporting LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda, for which it got a reprimand from President Yoweri Museveni in 2019 for “meddling” in the country’s affairs and “funding activities that are against our culture and values.”

• In Nigeria, the foundation was attacked by the government in 2021 for its alleged role in funding separatist movements and “attempting to destabilize the country by fueling division,” as then-Minister of Information Lai Mohammed put it at the time.

• In South Africa in 2017, then-President Jacob Zuma leveled similar charges against the foundation, accusing it of pursuing a “political agenda” that’s “not aligned with the interests of South Africa,” including through the “financial support to opposition groups and NGOs that are working tirelessly to destabilize our government.”

Now, in Kenya, President Ruto asked the Ford Foundation this week “to explain to us what they seek to gain by destabilizing Kenya’s democracy,” alleging that the organization has helped sponsor the “anarchy” facing the nation over the past month, and threatening to kick them out.

The foundation has denied any involvement in the unrest. “We do not fund or sponsor the recent protests against the finance bill,” it said in a statement, assuring that its grants for civil and rights are doled out in a “strictly non-partisan” manner.

The foundation’s activities in Kenya are curious in light of Ruto’s much-publicized trip to Washington in May – during which he became the first African leader to be treated to a formal state visit since 2008, and where he signed an enhanced security partnership relationship with the United States.

But it’s not unheard of for the US foreign policy establishment and its non-state actor allies to try to ‘rejuvenate’ its alliances through a process of political molting, as evidenced by processes like the 2011 Arab Spring, which in addition to US adversaries led to the ouster of key American regional allies – most notably Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and their replacement by other forces which retained their pro-US course.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240717/with-friends-like-these-whats-known-about-us-nonprofit-accused-of-fueling-kenya-unrest-1119402660.html

Strategic ally: what's behind U.S. interest in Kenya?, by Armando Holanda for SputnikBrazil. 07.20.2024.

Amid a series of protests over the Finance Bill of Kenyan President William Ruto — who withdrew from the text after the death of more than 20 people — Kenya is experiencing intense days.

Despite demonstrations and clashes with police using tear gas and rubber bullets, one known stakeholder — the United States — has shown "affection" for Kenya.

The nation considered the world's greatest power — with its days of might numbered with the insurgency of a multipolar world — has signaled that Kenya is a non-NATO allied country. But what does that mean?

Military interest

A US signal of friendly rapprochement make Kenya, declared an allied country not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), brings to light what guides the interest of the North American country. According to Franco Alencastro, professor of International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), "as preferential NATO allies, this allows access to the preferential purchase of military material."

"For example [...] anti-tank munitions of depleted uranium, among other advanced military equipment", explains the expert in an interview with Mundioka, Sputnik Brasil podcast.

According to Alencastro, Kenya can be seen as a traditional U.S. ally, especially since the end of the Cold War. And that connection was strengthened during some of the U.S. administrations in the 21st century.

"[Like that of] Barack Obama, whose father was rightly of Kenyan origin. Obama visited Kenya in 2015 to widespread acclaim."

Another factor, according to him, was former President George Bush's war on Terror (2001-2009), preceded, before September 11, by an attack by Al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia and several other countries) on the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998.

"[This] led to Kenya being watched with great interest by the United States during the Bush administration, during the war on Terror, and being considered a partner in that effort."

The professor explains that Kenya — like many other countries in Africa — is mainly an exporter of primary goods, selling products such as tea, flowers and oil, but that it has presented a stable economy.

"Speaking of the political part: in the economy, it is a more stable country than most other African countries, which may not seem currently, with these protests, but this is the result of a more stable political scenario in Kenya. No wars, no major civil wars and such movements."

This stability, according to the researcher, "means that Kenya's economy has grown a lot in recent years", with an average of 5% in the last decade. But with a However, an increase in indebtedness, "which was precisely to boost the economy with major works, investment in infrastructure, and which at this moment has been charging the consequences, because the government has had difficulty balancing the budget".

On the decision of the president of Kenya to dissolve almost the entire government, with the exception of the minister of Foreign Affairs and the vice president, Alencastro points out that it is a decision that corrects directions.

"I believe that he did not also dismiss the Foreign Minister to maintain some stability in the external field, especially there in his dialogue with the African Union, to ensure that his relationship with his neighbors continues in the way it has been going. [ ... ] But internally, I think [the change] is very much a response to an extreme dissatisfaction of the population."

Yandex Translate from Portuguese.

https://noticiabrasil.net.br/20240719/aliado-estrategico-o-que-ha-por-tras-do-interesse-dos-eua-no-quenia-35668476.html

Non HATO member status means we will pretend to be friends and we will use you like a battering ram to achieve our interests... like damaging Russia or China, but you don't get to wear the badges and don't get to learn the secret handshakes... which is essentially US dick up your butt.

The Europeans love that, but most other countries seem not so much to like that.