Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on President William Ruto to unconditionally withdraw the Finance Bill.
In a statement, Raila stated that it was unfortunate that lives were lost in the protests that began last week.
He opined that the situation would not get any better until the Finance Bill 2024 is withdrawn and a dialogue held over the same.
On the other hand, he advised the President to immediately order the police to stand down and stop attacking the protesters.
Raila also demanded the immediate arrest of the officers who killed the protesters in Parliament.
"Kenya cannot afford to kill its children just because the children are asking for food, jobs and a listening ear," he stated.
"Police must therefore immediately stop shooting innocent, peaceful and unarmed protesting children who are asking for guarantees of a better tomorrow from the State.
Here is the statement;
Today, our country is paying a steep price for obstinacy of the government. Matters that should have been resolved through dialogue and humility have degenerated into developments that have never been witnessed in the 61-year history of our country since independence.
I am deeply troubled by the violent and deadly crackdown on young, peaceful protesters exercising their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, I am disturbed at the murders, arrests, detentions and surveillance being perpetrated by police on boys and girls who are only seeking to be heard over taxation policies that are stealing both their present and future.
We had hoped that the government would show goodwill and humility and at least listen to the country's children. Instead, every dissenting opinion has been dismissed and ridiculed by government officials and ruling party politicians and such dissenting voices are now being silenced by brutality and murder.
The constitution seems to have been suspended. We cannot allow that. The government has unleashed brute force on our country's children and more seems to be on the way. We cannot allow that. We can't and won't tolerate any extra minute of this murder spree and violence that could have been and can still be avoided.
Kenya cannot afford to kill its children just because the children are asking for food, jobs and a listening ear. Police must therefore immediately stop shooting innocent, peaceful and unarmed protesting children who are asking for guarantees of a better tomorrow from the State.
The grievances and frustrations of the protesting boys and girls run extremely deep and wide. The immediate trigger however is the Finance Bill. This Bill is neither an emergency nor a life-and-death matter for the government and Kenyans. Kenyans will recall that when there was a standoff in the last Parliament over calls for the reduction of tax on petroleum products from 16 per cent to 8 per cent, the then Jubilee government agreed to suspend that provision and fell back on the old Finance Act, until a consensus reached.
The same can happen today, with the government suspending the current Finance Bill and continuing with the Finance Act of last year. The starting point to ending this impasse and cruel bloodletting is for the government to immediately and unconditionally withdraw the Finance Bill and make way for a fresh start and dialogue.
The government must also immediately stop the violence its agencies are meting out on citizens and arrest all the police officers who have shot and killed protesters. Without these first steps, nobody should imagine that the current situation is going away any time soon and nobody must imagine that Kenyans will sit back and watch police butcher their children in defence of policies whose consequences have a pervasive chilling effect on citizens, particularly the youth.
I am calling on the East African Community, the African Union and the United Nations to immediately be seized of the unfolding situation in Kenya to save lives and the country. I mourn with the families that have lost loved ones and stand with them in the ongoing struggle for justice and economic liberation.
Raila Odinga.
