Talks to resolve impasse and end demos a must

With the opposition gearing up for the second round of anti-government demonstrations, which Inspector-General of Police Japhet Koome has declared illegal, the stage is once again set for deadly confrontations.

Azimio la Umoja coalition leader Raila Odinga and his associates have declared that they will not relent in their campaign. They want the government to lower the cost of living and open the IEBC servers to confirm the results of August 9 General Election.

It is not clear how IG Koome can justify his outlawing of the protests. Mr Odinga and his team have followed the right procedure by notifying the police that they will hold peaceful protests today. This is guaranteed by the Constitution and the police should ideally also protect the protesters and ensure that crooks do not take advantage of this to cause chaos.

For Nairobi residents, who witnessed last Monday’s violent clashes between the police and protesters, there will be yet another disruption of their lives. Last week, many did not make it work, as public transport was not readily available. Worse, chaos resulted in serious injuries and a colossal loss of business. Traders suffered the brunt of the lawlessness in the running battles between police and demonstrators.

We reiterate our call to President William Ruto and Azimio leader Odinga to soften their hardline positions and hold talks to help resolve the impasse.

The President, who left the country yesterday for a four-day visit to Germany and Belgium will, among other things, be pushing for trade and investment. With chaos back home, he will not with a straight face be able to woo foreign investors, who are quite sensitive about such instability and insecurity.

Faced with not just one but two days of demos this week, the need for dialogue cannot be emphasized enough.

The positions of the rival groups seem to have been hardened and yet the country cannot afford the soaring cost of the continued protests. The more the country descends into chaos, there will be no winners, but only losers on both sides of the political divide. This country is bigger than all these leaders. It must be safeguarded at all costs.