A section of Kenyan activists have vowed to return to the streets a day after President William Ruto decided to abandon the entire finance bill for 2024.
The 2024 finance bill ignited the demonstrations last week, surprising Ruto's administration as the first calm marches spread across the country.
However, dramatic images outside parliament on Tuesday, which saw the partly burned facility invaded and looted, left the nation reeling, with a state-backed rights organization counting 22 dead nationally and promising an inquiry.
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Ruto told a surprised country on Wednesday afternoon that he would not sign the measure and that it would be "subsequently withdrawn."
"The people have spoken," he said, adding that he would seek "engagement with the young people of our nation".
This was an unexpected shift from his tough-talking late-night statement on Tuesday when he compared some of the marchers to "criminals."
However, prominent protestors ridiculed his statements, with one, Hanifa Adan, branding them a "PR" ploy in light of the violence at prior events this week.
Adan previously stated that demonstrators will "march peacefully again as we wear white, for all our fallen people," with some supporters preparing to send flowers in honour of the deceased.
"You cannot kill all of us,"
Ruto said Wednesday that abandoning the law would leave a large fund gap for development projects that assist farmers and schoolteachers, among others.
The cash-strapped administration had previously stated that the increases were essential to finance Kenya's huge debt of over 10 trillion shillings.
