In some of Africa’s major cities, young people are experiencing a summer of discontent as anger and frustration erupt over corruption, the soaring cost of living, and widespread unemployment.
The protests began in Kenya last month, where young people – particularly Gen Z – engaged in six weeks of demonstrations over an unpopular bill that sought to raise taxes. At least 50 people died as a result.
President William Ruto retracted the bill and announced a shake-up of his cabinet following pressure from demonstrators who remained on the streets, saying they were unhappy about alleged corruption and police brutality in his government. There have been some calls for him to resign.
Kenya, East Africa’s dominant economy, has grappled with escalating living costs that have spiked food prices and other commodities, amid a rising unemployment rate among the country’s youth. The nation also owes billions of dollars in foreign and local debts, spending a sizeable chunk of its revenue repaying its creditors.
The unrest swiftly spread to neighboring Uganda, where citizens attempted to march to the parliament in the capital, Kampala, on July 23 and 25. Security forces responded with a heavy clampdown, detaining more than 100 people, according to police reports.
Those protesting are angry about widespread government corruption in the country, which loses an estimated Sh. 10 trillion ($2.7 billion) in public funding to graft annually, according to Ugandan anti-corruption body the Inspectorate of Government (IG).
Radio host Faiza Fabz, who joined the protests, said on social media that the demonstration was an “opportunity to change the course of our nation” and “force the leaders to finally listen to us and demands of the people.”
Some of those demands include “auditing the lifestyle” of MPs “and publicizing it,” and the resignation of lawmakers involved in corruption scandals, according to a newspaper front page she shared on social media platform X. Fabz was among the demonstrators detained by the Ugandan police.
Uganda has witnessed some stability in its economy following “an oil-related construction boom and robust growth of agriculture,” according to the World Bank.
But it has also grappled with endemic corruption, scoring 26 last year on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks countries on a scale of zero to 100, with zero meaning “highly corrupt” and 100 signifying that a country is “very clean.”
Several high-profile Ugandan politicians were sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom for corruption earlier this year, including the speaker of the country’s parliament, Anita Annet Among, whom the protesters called on to resign.
President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has ruled Uganda with an iron fist for nearly four decades, warned the protesters they were “playing with fire,” and later praised the security forces for “foiling” the protests, and claiming without evidence that they were orchestrated with “funding from foreign sources.”
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