KENYAN police have fired tear gas to disperse small groups of anti-government protesters in the capital, Nairobi, demanding better governance as a new cabinet was sworn in.
Businesses in the city were closed and public transport paralysed as police mounted roadblocks on major roads to bar protesters from accessing the central business district.
The demonstrations are a continuation of months-long anti-tax protests that have since morphed into calls for President William Ruto to resign.
The youth-led protests have already forced the president to withdraw planned additional taxes and dissolve his cabinet.
Mr Ruto has appointed senior opposition officials to his cabinet, in a move to quell growing public anger against his government.
He gave four posts to the opposition – including the powerful finance and energy ministries.
The new cabinet was sworn in early on Thursday amid a heavy security deployment at the president’s official residence, State House, which protesters had threatened to storm.
During the ceremony, Mr Ruto said the new cabinet “cannot and must not fail Kenyans”.
He described his new team as an “alliance of rivals” in a nation that had long suffered “factional and sectarian competition”.
“More than ever, it is clear that we are fully united by a shared devotion to secure a prosperous Kenya that serves us all,” Mr Ruto added.
About half of the ministers were in his previous cabinet, a move that has further angered protesters, who are demanding a complete break with the past.
They had rejected the new cabinet, saying it merely perpetuates deal-making among Kenya’s political elite.
