Amid Kenya’s most violent day of protests this year, the national death toll from Monday’s unrest has risen sharply to 31, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission confirmed on Tuesday. Sadly, this is the deadliest single-day tally since the anti-government demonstrations erupted earlier in 2024.
The commission also reported that 107 people were wounded and over 500 arrested, with widespread looting and property destruction reported, including attacks on supermarkets and small businesses. Police figures closely matched the arrest numbers, though it remained unclear if any fatalities included law enforcement officers.
The protests, driven largely by youth anger over police violence, economic hardship, and accusations of corruption, have intensified calls for President William Ruto to resign. Demonstrators have consistently demanded accountability and reform amid a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
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President Ruto has yet to address the latest round of unrest or the rising casualties.
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UN human rights chief Volker Türk, through spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, urged Kenyan authorities to respond to citizens’ concerns. “He renews his call for calm and restraint, and full respect for the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” Shamdasani said.
Monday’s demonstrations were deliberately held on July 7—Saba Saba, or “Seven Seven” in Swahili, a date etched into Kenya’s democratic memory. It marks the 1990 pro-democracy protests that pressured then-president Daniel arap Moi, Ruto’s former mentor, into transitioning the country from one-party rule to a multiparty system, a shift finally realized during the 1992 elections.
This year’s demonstrations have been building since last month, when a blogger died in police custody. Anger escalated further after a police officer was filmed shooting a protester at close range on June 17. By June 25, protests had engulfed the country, with young Kenyans leading mass mobilizations. Over the past two weeks alone, at least 50 people have been killed.
The Kenya National Cohesion and Integration Commission, an official state body, condemned both the police response and the divisive rhetoric from politicians, warning against inflaming ethnic tensions and criticizing what it called “excessive force” used on demonstrators.
READ ALSO: Kenyan man shot by police during protest dies, reigniting outrage over brutality
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen has come under scrutiny for his remarks last week instructing police to “shoot on sight” anyone who approached police stations during protests, many of which had been torched.
Public frustration continues to mount, fueled in part by Ruto’s economic policies, including attempts to raise taxes to service the country’s mounting debt. Last year’s protests over tax hikes saw demonstrators breach parliament, prompting the president to vow budget cuts.
As the chaos is yet to cease, ordinary Kenyans have borne the brunt. “They invaded our shop, and by the way, we have lost so many things. We lost cash, phones, a lot of them,” said Nancy Gicharu, a mobile phone vendor whose business was ransacked during the unrest.
