Kenyan President William Ruto, acceding to pressure from Kenyans after several violent protests, has declined to sign the contentious Finance Bill 2024 to law, according to media reports.

"Having reflected on the continuing conversation around the content of the Finance Bill 2024, and listening keenly to the people of Kenya, who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede, and therefore, I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn," Ruto said on national television.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, June 26, said he was deeply saddened by the reports of deaths and injuries - including of journalists and medical personnel - connected to protests and street demonstrations in Kenya. President Ruto termed Tuesday&039;s street protests in the East African nation as treasonous, noting that his government will soon provide an expeditious response to the situation, Xinhua reports. In his televised address to the nation, Ruto said the government has mobilized all its resources to ensure the situation does not occur again "at whatever cost."

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President Ruto on Tuesday directed security organs to use all means possible to thwart any threats to the country's national security.

"It is possible that the criminals who reigned terror on innocent people and challenged our security organs are likely to continue with this behaviour," he said, adding that the planners, financiers and abetters of the protests would not go scot-free.

Ruto's remarks on Tuesday came a few hours after at least five protestors were shot dead and more than 150 others injured as protests erupted countrywide for the second week in a row against new taxation measures proposed. The protestors gathered in various towns across Kenya, including the capital Nairobi, where they breached the heavily guarded premises to enter both the National Assembly and the Senate, destroying property and marching into the buildings despite police firing live bullets in the air. Ruto said the government would not tolerate crime masked as democratic expression.

The president observed that the national conversation on what affects the nation would only be done under the rule of law, constitutionalism, and respect for the nation.

The Kenya Defence Forces were deployed on Tuesday in support of the National Police Service in response to the security emergency caused by ongoing violent protests in various parts of the country, Duale said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appealed for calm and dialogue, noting that he is saddened by the loss of lives occasioned by the protests.

The lawmakers on Tuesday morning passed the contentious finance bill 2024, seeking to raise an additional 346.7 billion shillings (2.67 billion U.S. dollars), by such measures as increasing the railway development levy from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent and the import declaration fee from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent.