A total shutdown of Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) on Monday marked a dramatic turn in this year’s Saba Saba commemorations, with many Kenyans declaring it a symbolic win for protesters, despite the absence of actual demonstrations.
In a bid to prevent public gatherings and unrest on the 35th anniversary of the historic July 7, 1990 protests that demanded multiparty democracy, the government deployed hundreds of heavily armed police officers across Nairobi’s major highways and entry points.
Roadblocks were mounted from as early as 5 a.m. in areas such as Roysambu, Waiyaki Way, Kitengela, Ngong, Mlolongo, and Ruaraka, effectively sealing off access to the CBD.
What followed was an eerie, dystopian scene, deserted streets, shuttered businesses, and a city under lockdown. Only police vehicles, ambulances, and media vans were permitted entry.
Major roads like Kenyatta Avenue, Tom Mboya Street, and Luthuli Avenue were devoid of the usual hustle, as citizens stayed home in what many are calling a silent protest.
Ironically, the government’s security operation to deter protests led to the very outcome it sought to prevent, an economic standstill and a city-wide paralysis.
Online, Kenyans were quick to highlight the irony, with one user posting: “To prevent protesters from closing roads, disrupting business and causing massive losses, the government has closed roads, disrupted business and caused massive losses.”
Others saw the government’s actions as a self-defeating move. “Today was not going to be that massive,” one user wrote on X. “But the government fell for the trap and crippled the city themselves.”
Activist Hanifa Adan added a satirical edge, asking, “Why are the police protesting and blocking roads everywhere disrupting people’s businesses and the economy? Were they sent by [Deputy President] Gachagua?”
Political commentator Allan Kavati summed up the day: “No business looted. No car burnt. No Kenyan shot. No police officer throwing teargas… Saba Saba was a success at 8.00 a.m. Congratulations Ruto, you protested against yourself!”
The peaceful shutdown has been widely celebrated online as a new form of civil disobedience, no violence, no confrontation, just a strategically forced “stay-at-home” that left security forces standing alone in empty streets.
Saba Saba, Swahili for “Seven Seven,” marks the 1990 protests led by Charles Rubia, Kenneth Matiba, and other pro-democracy pioneers, whose defiance paved the way for multiparty democracy in Kenya. Today, the day continues to symbolize civic resistance and the right to peaceful protest, something Kenyans demonstrated this year without even stepping out.
Written By Rodney Mbua
