Do not pass the anti-terror law, Owalo tells Uhuru

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Campaign Secretariat Manager, Eliud Owalo has said some provisions in the proposed anti-terror law aim at reverting the country to autocratic state.

Mr Owalo termed as untenable, the provisions that give the President power to appoint the Inspector General of police and those which allow police to hold suspects in custody for up to a year.

"There is a systematic attempt by the President to revert Kenya to a police state as was witnessed during the Kanu era with the intention of keeping himself in power," he said.

Addressing a meeting in Kamkunji grounds over the weekend where he presented cheques to youth groups, Owalo told the President that history will judge him very harshly if he assents to the Bill in its current form.

Not right

He noted that this will be tantamount to taking from Kenyans using his left hand what the constitution has guaranteed them with the right.

Owalo appealed to all Kenyans of goodwill to resist a reversal of the gains derived from the new constitution, even if it means resorting to countrywide mass action to prevent "mutilation of the hard-earned constitution by the Jubilee regime".

"We should all be at the forefront in standing up to oppose mutilation of freedoms and liberties by the forces of impunity to facilitate misrule in Kenya. We will use all means to oppose this move," he said.

Owalo appealed to the Church to join forces with the opposition and civil society members in order to forestall the proposed Security Amendment Bill 2014.

"These draconian and retrogressive proposals should not become law," he said