From left: President William Ruto, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki, National Intelligence Service Director-General Noordin Haji, National Police Service Inspector-General Japhet Koome and Azimio leader Raila Odinga.
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Five men to watch as deadly anti-government protests loom
All eyes will be on five men as the country faces a make-or-break week with the opposition set to scale up anti-government protests even as the government vows to clamp down on any demonstrations.
President William Ruto, Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, National Intelligence Service Director-General Noordin Haji and Inspector-General Japhet Koome will be the men to watch in the wake of two weeks of deadly protests.
At least 23 people have been killed in the nationwide protests, according to various reports by human rights organisations.
On one hand, the opposition is unrelenting in its demonstrations, citing the ever-rising cost of living and punitive taxes by the Kenya Kwanza government and have called for heightening of the protests to three days starting tomorrow.
“Going forward, the peaceful protests will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week in line with the request from the public,” said Mr Odinga last week.
On the other hand, the government is adamant that it will not allow the planned protests to take place, accusing the opposition of hanging on the cost of living to cause anarchy.
“The elections are over. You cannot look for leadership by using the blood of Kenyans and destroying their property. These demos will not happen. Listen to me carefully: You cannot use extra-judicial, extra-constitutional means to look for power in Kenya,” President Ruto fired back.
However, allies of the opposition leader responded in kind by alleging a plot to assassinate the former prime minister and leaders in his camp.
Azimio also challenged the President to address the plight of Kenyans instead of using threats to avert the anti-government protests.
Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga, Mr Odinga’s elder brother, retorted: “Where does Ruto get the power to call off demonstrations? We don’t need your permission to come out and demonstrate.”
“The country is in danger of disintegrating if anything happens to Mr Odinga,” said Ugunja MP and National Assembly minority leader Opiyo Wandayi.
On Monday, Azimio said the Head of State must move with speed to address the high cost of living that has pushed Kenyans to the streets instead of organising meetings at State House to plan “retaliatory attacks.”
Speaking after a Parliamentary Group (PG) at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation (JOOF), the opposition legislators insisted that their planned demonstrations will go on as planned.
“We are here, first and foremost to confirm that the peaceful protests planned for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week are on as earlier declared by our leadership. These protests will go on in line with Article 37 of our Constitution which provides for freedom of peaceful assembly and states that 'every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities,” Mr Wandayi said.
ODM secretary-general Edwin Sifuna alleged that senior police commanders had declined to shoot innocent protesters, leading to the plans by Kenya Kwanza MPs to organise retaliatory attacks.
“We have received intelligence that senior police officers in the Kenya police command have chosen to ignore illegal orders to shoot protesters, which is why a PG was convened at State House to push MPs to mobilise people in their constituencies to come and harm protesters,” Mr Sifuna said.
“We will not fight our fellow countrymen. We have never come to a low where a President convenes a meeting to set people against each other,” Mr Sifuna said.
But in a quick rejoinder, President Ruto’s troops took the antagonism a notch higher, accusing the opposition of not only economic sabotage, but also of an alleged plot to topple the ruling government, saying the protests had taken a political angle and are no longer about the cost of living.
Dr Ruto narrowly beat the ODM leader in the hotly contested August 9 presidential election—by about 200,000 votes—to be declared the fifth president.
However, the former premier rejected the declaration of his once-political friend as president and has constantly referred to the Kenya Kwanza government as “illegitimate”.
The back and forth has only intensified with both President Ruto and Mr Odinga showing no signs of relenting even in the wake of calls by religious leaders.
Mr Sifuna, a close confidant of Mr Odinga, dared the government to arrest the opposition chief. “You people are cowards. You can ask me to give you the location of Raila Odinga so that you can arrest him,” said the Nairobi senator.
Fanning the political temperatures even further, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei vowed to mobilise Kenya Kwanza supporters to invade the homes of Mr Odinga and retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom the government has accused of allegedly financing the demos, if the protests continue.
A State House meeting also resolved to have Kenya Kwanza leaders mobilise their supporters “to protect lives and property” by devising a counter-strategy in readiness for the third wave of protests, a move that could set the stage for deadly confrontation.
But as both political leaders continue to hold tough stances over the protests, civilians have continued to pay the price with their lives.
The State-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) put the number of deaths at nine while UN Human Rights Office has a figure of 23.
Although the two bodies have different figures of the aftermath of the protests, they have both accused the police of brutality by using live bullets against protesters, drawing a sharp focus on IG Koome.
KNCHR called for investigations into reports of police brutality, warning that the country is teetering “on the brink of anarchy”. The UN body also raised concerns over the widespread violence and unnecessary use of force, including the use of firearms by police, during the protests.
“The policing of protests must seek to facilitate peaceful assemblies, and any use of force must be guided by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination. Firearms should never be used to disperse protests,” the UN body said through the Human Rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence.
The IG is charged with the responsibility of commanding and leading the Kenya Police and in his office lies the key to allow or forbid the protests, but in line with the law.
Last week, he had vowed to use all “lawful means” to disperse any gatherings by the opposition last Wednesday, claiming Azimio leaders had not presented any official notification to the police on the planned demos.
He said that in the absence of notifications by planners of any demonstrations as a legal prerequisite to enable police provide adequate security to demonstrators and the public, police have no other option but to take necessary measures to disperse them.
Nonetheless, the protests went ahead countrywide with at least nine people losing their lives and dozens suffering injuries. The protests also snowballed into ethnic clashes in Sondu at the border of Kisumu and Kericho counties.
Mr Koome has been accused by the opposition of allowing the use of excessive force by the police, while he is also under pressure from the government for failing to quell the protests.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah and his Senate counterpart Aaron Cheruiyot called on the IG to investigate all acts of criminality during the protests, arrest perpetrators and charge them.
“But it is not just the violent demonstrators who should be prosecuted; the financiers and mobilisers of criminal gangs should also be charged with the various crimes that their money procures,” the two said in a joint statement on Saturday.
They said the Constitution sets out clear parameters for demonstrations in Kenya, the most basic of which is the requirement to notify the police, maintain order and keep the peace.
“It is clear that all these legal requirements have been consistently flouted with abandon, but also with impunity.”
The leaders said the opposition is hiding behind the freedom to assemble as enshrined in Article 37 of the Constitution to create mayhem and anarchy and sabotage a legitimately elected government.
Article 37 of the Constitution states that every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket and to present petitions to public authorities.
Pressure has also been mounting on CS Kindiki even as the Interior boss has been talking tough over the demonstrations.
“Protests will no longer take place in our nation of Kenya. The one they have planned for Wednesday will not be possible,” he said last week.
However, although the law gives the Interior CS powers to prevent malicious destruction of property by demonstrators, he can only do this by declaring areas of interest as protected and bar any unauthorised entry.
CAP 204 of the Protected Areas Act provides that security agencies shall prevent unauthorised access to all protected areas and so long as the order is in force, no person shall be allowed entry into the protected area without the permission of the prescribed authority
“If any person is in a protected area in contravention of this Act, or, being lawfully in a protected area, fails to comply with any direction given under this Act, then, without prejudice to any proceedings which may be taken against him, he may be removed from the area by any police officer or any person authorised in that behalf by the prescribed authority,” the law says.
The state is also relying on NIS boss Haji to help the security sector map out the country’s hot spots through his agency’s situation reports.
The new NIS boss has been under pressure from a section of leaders allied to President Ruto who have accused him of being sympathetic to the opposition.
MPs who spoke to Nation claimed that the former Director of Public Prosecutions was a topic of discussion during the State House meeting on Saturday, with some leaders feeling that he allegedly has a soft spot for Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta.
Additional reporting by Justus Ochieng
