Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has hinted at the opposition coalition stepping up its anti-government protests from next week.
Speaking at Citizen TV, Sifuna said that the tri-weekly protests will take place from Monday to Wednesday and will end only when President William Ruto agrees to review the contentious Finance Act 2023.
“From next week, three days straight of maandamano, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday until William Ruto understands the people are suffering and repeals this law the same way that he imposed it upon them,” he said.
According to Sifuna, the government should listen to the demands of many Kenyans before they take the matter into their own hands.Â
“It’s better off when known people like Sifuna, Raila, Osotsi (Vihiga Senator), leading these demonstrations. The day Kenyans take this matter upon themselves there will be nobody to call on the table,” he said.
He also chastised the government for previously declaring that Azimio leaders would be arrested, claiming that they will not give up their fight against the government and are willing to be apprehended for the same reason.
“Nobody is going to threaten us. There is nothing these people (Kenya Kwanza) have not said. There is nothing they can scare us with. If it is arrest we are ready to be arrested,” noted Sifuna.
“They are all in agreement that we should arrest Raila. What the problem is that there is no one with the b*** in Kenya Kwanza to actually arrest Raila. You have said this thing for over a year now you know where Raila lives I can take you to his house today,” he added.
“We want to tell Kenya Kwanza, walk the talk. Kenyans are angry and not at us but at the government because they do not want to listen.”
Sifuna explained the motivation behind the weekly protests, saying that the Azimio coalition had adopted a new strategy of ‘shifts’ to allow more people to join the mass action.
“We have received communication from some Kenyans who are saying that we scheduled maandamano on a day they were unable to attend. We are introducing shifts so that if you’re free on Monday, join us and allow others to demonstrate on Tuesday and the same applies for Wednesday every week.”
“The end game is that we have used all the language we know, tried persuasion, and mediation by committing ourselves to dialogue with the government but they refused to listen. They introduced a bill which the majority of Kenyans opposed but they went ahead and passed it. Therefore, what we are saying is that until you listen to the people, we will soldier on,” he asserted.
