According to ODM Party Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party will no longer serve police with notices of their bi-weekly anti-government protests.
The opposition party has been protesting President William Ruto’s administration’s failure to reduce the cost of living and favouritism in State appointments, among other things, on Mondays and Thursdays.
However, whereas the Inspector General of Police, Japhet Koome, had previously instructed the Raila Odinga-led faction to provide notices ahead of the planned demonstrations, the coalition has stated that it will no longer serve them due to ineffectiveness.
Sifuna claimed that instead of providing demonstrators with security, police used violence to disrupt the demonstrations.
“We are no longer going to issue notices. Let us exercise our rights under Article 37. Protests will happen spontaneously anywhere, anytime without notification of the police because we have realised the notifications are invitations for them to use violence on us,” he told Citizen TV.
“Every single police station in Nairobi has been served with a notification of protests… the purpose of which is to invite them to give security and protect the protesters. But we have realised that it does not matter how much we comply with the law, they are still going to unconstitutionally declare our protests as illegal.”
Sifuna claimed that the recent demonstrations’ violence and property destruction were caused by the police, and that the disciplined forces must be removed from the streets for protesters to be calm.
“But for police action, these protests will be peaceful. Remove police action from these things and see our people…,” said the Nairobi senator.
His remarks came just hours after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki warned that violent protests would not be tolerated in Kenya.
“With or without notices, demonstrations and protests of any type which injure people, security officers, businesses and property shall be prevented at all costs,” Prof. Kindiki said in a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday.
