A year on from the deadliest protests in Kenya’s recent history, families gathered at dawn to place flowers on the barbed wire that still lines the streets of Nairobi. They remembered the dozens killed when police opened fire on demonstrators angered by a deeply unpopular finance bill. The UK government, which had remained largely silent during the crackdown, today issued a carefully worded call for “stability and dialogue”.
For the mothers and widows left behind, the message rings hollow. “They laid flowers, but our children are still dead,” said Grace Akinyi, whose son was shot while queuing for bread. “We don’t need stability.
We need justice.” The anniversary unfolds against a backdrop of soaring prices and a currency in freefall. The very bill that sparked the protests has been watered down, but not scrapped.
Across the city, the cost of a loaf of bread has risen 40 per cent in 12 months. The gap between the UK’s diplomatic calm and the grief on the ground has never felt wider.
