Kenya Alliance Holds Usawa March To Demand Kenyatta Government To Fight Inequality
17 January 2020
Kenya Fight Inequality Alliance (Kenya FIA) held the Usawa March today to deliver 10 demands to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government to fight inequality.
Activists belonging to Kenya FIA said they are starting the decade by calling for an end to the ‘age of greed’ and showing that the solutions to inequality will come from the people on the frontlines of the problem.
‘We are already giving the government a ‘cheat sheet’ on how they can effectively fight inequality in Kenya. Budget cuts and lack of basic social services will only add to people’s misery. We have the solutions and the only thing President Kenyatta needs to do is to follow our 10-point demands,’ said Antonia Musunga, Kenya FIA National Coordinator.
Hundreds of people gathered in Freedom Corner to deliver the 10 demands to fight inequality[1] [2] to the Office of the President. The demand includes allocation of resources to protect the poorest Kenyans from the effects of climate change; negotiate concessions from China, end harmful tax incentives, tax the rich, multinationals and property-owners, and consider broad debt rescheduling to boost spending on basic services; and impose corporate taxes on capital gains.
The Usawa March in Kenya is one of the protests that will take place in 30 countries, including the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Zambia, Kenya, India, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, South Africa, Mexico and Uganda, as part of the Global Protest to #FightInequality. The actions coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where billionaires gather with the aim of ‘improving the state of the world’. The protest is a counterpoint to Davos WEF’s ‘hypocrisy’ and will see diverse movements joining together against the root causes of inequality and to call for systemic change.
The global protest happens as people around the world, particularly in Chile, Ecuador, Lebanon, France, Haiti, among many others are taking to the streets against inequality. Coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the global protest will be a direct jab to the elite’s arrogance and greed.
Nearly 1 million school-aged children are out of school in Kenya and a woman has a 1 in 40 chance of dying during childbirth. A quarter of the Kenyan population regularly lack access to healthcare. A study by Oxfam Kenya on Inequality in 2017 estimated that nearly 2.6 million people fall into poverty or remain poor due to ill health each year. In the financial year 2018-2019; Kenya allocated less than a third of the budget to direct social service delivery such as education, health and water. [3]
“People are joining together to tackle the problem by its roots, and that is inequality. We are starting the decade by calling out the elites in Davos who exploit us, and the governments who are failing us,” said Jenny Ricks, global convenor for Fight Inequality Alliance. “In a just and fair economic system, billionaires would not exist. Now must be the decade of the 99%.”
The Fight Inequality Alliance is a group of leading international and national non-profit organisations, human rights campaigners, women’s rights groups, environmental groups, faith-based organisations, trade unions, social movements and other civil society organisations that have come together to fight the growing crisis of inequality.
Notes to editor:
- Summary of Kenya FIA Memorandum of Demands
- Kenya FIA Memorandum of demands
- https://www.oxfam.org/en/kenya-extreme-inequality-numbers
Media contact:
Antonia Musunga, National Coordinator, Kenya Fight Inequality Alliance, antoniamusunga@gmail.com | 0720061742
Notes to editor:
For international media enquiries, including photos, video and/or interview request, contact: media@fightinequality.org | +63 949 889 1332