Police officers arrest a protester along Moi Avenue in Nairobi during anti-Finance Bill protests on June 27, 2024.
I struggled to write this article. Many articles I have written in this column on Kenya have always been inspired by poor governance and corruption that has the country in a chockhold. However hard a journalist in Kenya tries to find something positive, I dare say, they will still be drawn to the ugly side of our society. These bad scenes trump the weight of integrity, honesty and even the beauty of the country.
The issue of dead youngsters and whose bodies seem to be strewn across Nairobi and its environs is not something I have found easy to write about. I am human, after all. It is easy to be told to divorce emotions from the subjects you tackle as a journalist or columnist, but that is easier said than done when witnessing injustice, human rights violations, maiming and deaths of innocent people.
The only crime most of the youngsters who died at the hands of the police committed during the recent protests by Gen-Z, was to come out onto the streets and exercise their constitutional rights to peaceful protests against decades of abuse of power. The current government clearly took that abuse of power notches higher in a short span of time than even their predecessors. That was the tipping point for the citizens.
‘Ruto must Go’
I have been very reluctant to add my voice to the call of ‘Ruto must Go’ as I wanted to give the regime a chance to redeem itself. President Ruto has made a few positive moves to assuage the protestors and heeded to some of their demands. The dissolution of the Cabinet and the withdrawal of budget allocations to offices of spouses of senior government officials and promising to cut down on wastage of public funds is commendable. However, considering continued human rights violations where many innocent Kenyans are losing their lives at the hands of the security forces has made me rethink my support for President Ruto.
He cannot justify leading the country where his security agencies are let loose to intimidate, torture and kill innocent Kenyans. He is the commander-in-Chief after all. The buck stops with him. These are the same voters that put him in power and the same people who made him the custodian of the Constitution that places duty of care in his hands to protect them from any threats, both internal and external.
The government’s silence on the mysterious deaths is nothing new. The last 10 years of the past regime and now the current one has anecdotally seen human rights violations more than ever experienced even at the hands of the colonial government. Bodies of Kenyans being found in the Savannahs, rivers and now in dumpsites and extrajudicial killings and kidnappings by security agents is not something that needs to be associated with a country with a good governance structure.
This is something that only happens in a failed regime that is in the middle of a war.
A government that is not aware that one pastor allegedly can bury hundreds of Kenyans right under the noses of security agencies is something worrying. It means no one is out to protect Kenyans, least of all President Ruto and his Predecessor President Uhuru Kenyatta.
When did our government come to a point to decide that Kenyan lives are worth less than cockroaches? What lessons has the government learnt from the Gen-Z protests if they are disappearing them than engaging with them? What lessons have been learnt about financial prudence, which was one of the bones of contention that led to the recent protests, when the government is still pushing for funds for the Office of the First Lady?
President Ruto has made attempts to engage the youth, but all these attempts don’t now appear genuine given the fact that he still consorts with politicians such as Raila Odinga than actively engaging the youth to pave the way for a better Kenya being demanded by Gen-Z. Political vultures angling to take advantage of the situation seem to have a better seat at the table than Kenyans from all walks of life that were promised to have a say. Will the government, or even President Ruto ever learn a lesson? I doubt it.
The tone-deaf attitude from the government and continued human rights violations being perpetrated by the government security agencies, who incidentally self-incriminated themselves as being behind all the kidnappings when they kidnapped veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho, shows President Ruto cannot be depended upon to keep Kenyans safe. His continuous hold onto power and by further sidelining the voters and Gen-Z makes his position untenable.
It is my plea that the President will consider leaving power if he won’t be prepared to protect the lives of innocent Kenyans from kidnappings and extrajudicial killings after voicing their concerns on how poorly the country is being run. The citizens should not live in fear of their own government and security agencies. There is a lot at stake. The stability of the country to be precise.
Ms Guyo is a legal researcher, [email protected], @kdiguyo
