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Leading activists behind weeks of protests, initially sparked by
proposed tax hikes, called for a "total shutdown" of the country
on Tuesday.
The protests have created the biggest crisis of Ruto's two years
in power and have continued - albeit with a smaller turnout -
even after the president withdrew $2.7 billion in tax hikes and
fired nearly his entire cabinet.
Many demonstrators are demanding that Ruto step down, blaming
him for misgovernance, corruption and the deaths of dozens of
protesters during earlier anti-government rallies.
On Tuesday, police fired tear gas in Kitengela, a town on the
southern outskirts of the capital Nairobi, where around 200
protesters burned tires and chanted "Ruto must go" and "Stop
killing us", Reuters reporters said.
Riot police in Nairobi's city centre also fired tear gas as a
few dozen protesters chanted for Ruto to step down.
Demonstrators in the coastal city of Mombasa marched waving palm
fronds, footage from Kenyan media showed.
Ruto's office had announced "multi-sectoral" talks for this week
to address grievances raised by the protesters, but there was no
sign they had begun. Most of the leading activists behind the
protests have rejected the invitation, instead calling for
immediate action on issues like corruption.
Ruto's spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
With Kenya spending over 30% of its revenues just paying the
interest bills on its debt, Ruto has been caught between the
demands of lenders to cut deficits and a hard-pressed population
reeling from rising living costs.
The protests began peacefully but later turned violent. Some
demonstrators briefly stormed parliament on June 25, and the
police opened fire. More than 40 people have been killed in the
protests, rights groups say.
Ruto on Monday accused the Ford Foundation, an American
philanthropic organization, of sponsoring those who had caused
"violence and mayhem" in Kenya, without providing evidence.
The Ford Foundation rejected the allegation, saying it did not
fund or sponsor the protests and has a strictly non-partisan
policy for its grant-making.
(Additional reporting by Hereward Holland and Humphrey Malalo;
Editing by Aaron Ross and Ros Russell)
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