Friday tax boycott, civil disobedience not violence, says Raila
Azimio leader Raila Odinga has announced that their planned Saba Saba rally, among similar gatherings across the country, will go ahead on Friday to mark the start of the third liberation against an 'oppressive' Kenya Kwanza government.
Mr Odinga warned that the opposition would take drastic action against President William Ruto's regime "because of his own actions against us".
"Ruto is imposing taxes on us without our consent and making laws whose net effect is to make life increasingly difficult," he said.
"We are here because the taxation situation in the country and its accompanying injustices can no longer be tolerated."
He took issue with President Ruto's removal of subsidies on basic commodities such as fuel, unga, electricity and school fees “while giving subsidies to helicopter owners and using taxpayers' money to fund the lavish lifestyles of his allies”.
"It has become clear that we are dealing with a dictator who also has no respect for wananchi. Ruto has become a heartless tyrant," Mr Odinga charged.
Flanked by other Azimio luminaries including Martha Karua, Kalonzo Musyoka, Wycliffe Oparanya, Eugene Wamalwa, Jeremiah Kioni, Mwangi wa Iria and George Wajackoyah, Mr Odinga said they were determined to correct the bad situation.
He was speaking during a press conference at the SKM Command Centre in Karen, Nairobi.
Third Liberation
"Therefore, we are here to announce that our Kamukunji meeting is on in Nairobi this Friday, as we had announced. But it is not just a Kamukunji in Nairobi, but a Kamukunji across the country where this Third Liberation will be launched," the former Prime Minister said.
He announced that on Friday, among other activities, they would start collecting signatures to show their rejection of an "illegitimate regime and its policies, especially punitive taxes".
"As we speak, fuel, food, and fare are all going up. In fact, (bus) fare is already going up by 30 per cent."
"As a people, we are not given to suffering in silence. We don’t kneel before dictators and beg for their mercy. Even the few who do, still suffer humiliation and even death. So, we fight," the ODM leader declared.
"So we have got to fight and that fight begins on Friday."
Mr Odinga called for unity, noting that through such joint initiatives "we can get many of the things that we not only want but that we rightly deserve".
"From Friday, let's go forward with a bold determination that we will stay together. We will work together. Let us stay in this struggle to the end," he said.
Mr Odinga said they would mobilise the country for pickets, protests, tax boycotts and civil disobedience, adding that the initiatives in no way meant violence.
"We abhor violence. We have never advocated violence in the past. We will never advocate it."
"We believe in the law and the rule of law and will act within the law. But (the) only weapon we have in our hands is our sovereign power to picket, protest, boycott and embark on civil disobedience. And we begin these on Friday, July 7th," he said.
