Kenyan political economist, Martin Andati, says President William Ruto’s decision to dissolve his cabinet has come too late. Ruto has promised to set up a broad-based government after firing virtually every member of his cabinet apart from the deputy president and a senior cabinet member.

Ruto made the announcement two weeks after nationwide protests forced him to scrap planned tax rises. He has pledged to consult widely prompting speculation that he could form a unity government with the opposition, led by Raila Odinga. Andati argues that President Ruto is finally yielding to the intense pressure generated by the widespread protests that have posed the greatest challenge to his two-year presidency.

“He delayed, he should have done that immediately. The finance bill collapsed in parliament; it was withdrawn because of public pressure. He should have immediately dissolved the cabinet and promised to rearrange the security apparatus. It’s now that he’s realising that if he doesn’t do that pressure will not go down.

This is the most incompetent cabinet we’ve ever had in the history of this country. From day one when he picked it we saw a lot of incompetence. There are people with serious cases, some of them even as serious as murder. He helped clean them up and force their way into parliament.”