For Kenya’s Gen Z and millenials, protest against the tax bill is the start of a long fight

Kenyan President William Ruto has climbed down on a new finance bill after protesters stormed parliament, police opened fire on demonstrators and more than 20 people were killed across the country.

The bill had proposed a slew of new taxes on a wide range of goods and services such as bread, cars, vegetable oil and sanitary products, hitting Kenyans already overburdened by the high cost of living.

I went to cover the demonstrations in Nairobi on Tuesday and found something markedly different to previous protests I had covered during my seven years in Kenya.

The morning air was thick with anticipation as my Uber drove through the city’s suburbs, heightened by the increasing presence of security forces as we drew closer to the city centre.

As I stepped out of the car, the acrid smell of tear gas hit my nostrils – reminding me to pull up the face mask (leftover from Covid-19 days) strapped under my chin.

I glanced around the unusually quiet streets of downtown Nairobi, trying to get my bearings but the noise made it easy to determine my direction.

It would have sounded almost festival-like – a low symphony of whistles, vuvuzelas and rhymthmic chants – had it not been for the frequent loud explosions of tear gas canisters being fired and...

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