Auma Obama, a Kenyan activist and the half-sister of former president Barack Obama, was among protestors who were tear-gassed during a protest in Nairobi against a new finance bill.
Obama, a Kenyan national, was seen on camera rubbing her eyes with a cloth and telling CNN reporter Larry Madowo that she had just been tear-gassed.
“I can’t believe that these young people are just trying to demonstrate for their rights; I came to join them,” Obama said, crouched on the ground while a chaotic scene ensued around them.
Thousands of protestors have joined in on demonstrating against a new controversial tax bill that has been passed.
The bill would introduce new taxes, including an eco-levy raising the price of goods like period products and nappies. A proposal to tax bread was removed after public outcry - with many Kenyans frustrated over the rising cost of living.
The finance bill aims to raise an additional $2.7bn in taxes as part of an effort to lighten the heavy debt load, with interest payments alone consuming 37 percent of annual revenue.
Police opened fire on demonstrators trying to storm Kenya’s parliament – leaving a number of people dead and dozens more injured.
“We are being tear-gassed. We have flags and banners, nothing else; these people have nothing else,” Auma Obama added.
Obama questioned how the authorities could “teargas your own people, listen to them. Listen to these children; they are the future… please listen to these young people.”
The activist referred to the fact that Kenya has a very youthful population, with over 80 percent of the population aged 35 years and below, a statistic also recorded by Kenya’s National Council for Population and Development in 2017.
Obama also touched on the significant unemployment problem that faces the country, saying that young people have “no jobs” and criticized the government for “taxing the jobless.”
“That is why I am here; I am here to tell them I support them,” she said, calling on the authorities to create more jobs for them.
Obama was also at the protest with her daughter, as pointed out by CNN’s Madowo, but the reporting crew had to hurry away from the scene after what appeared to be more teargas were deployed near them.
Obama, the half-sister of the 44th president, has her own foundation called Sauti Kuu, which aims to help disadvantaged youths with new opportunities to help them live independent lives, their website states.
The foundation has been involved in several projects, including the launch of a vocational center in 2018. Her brother Barack Obama traveled to Kenya for a two-day visit to support the launch six years ago.
Auma Obama, born and raised in Kenya, has previously worked as a freelance journalist and a German lecturer at a university in the United Kingdom, before returning to Kenya in 2007 to start humanitarian work, later founding Sauti Kuu in 2010.
