An order by acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i banning demonstrations in the Central Business Districts (CBD) of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu was suspended by the High Court last week.
This paved way for the resumption of demonstrations that had been put on hold to allow the National Super Alliance (NASA) leadership condole with families of victims of police shooting during demonstrations in Kisumu the previous week. The demonstrations have been called by NASA to demand specific changes within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Granted, demonstrations are protected in law as the citizens’ right to express displeasure with certain issues. However, the right to demonstrate is inalienable only if the demos stay within certain parameters, namely, they must be peaceful and orderly in order not to occasion losses through lawlessness that often accompanies demonstrations.
We have witnessed demonstrations that are supposedly peaceful turn chaotic when those participating in them turn to looting and causing disruptions in other areas. The police have always had a hand in demonstrations turning chaotic after using unnecessary force to disperse demonstrators.
Tuesday’s rally in Nairobi was violently dispersed after the police lobbed tear-gas canisters into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators along Kenyatta Avenue.
Clearly, there was no justification for that, first because there was no act of lawlessness and secondly, demos within the CBD have been permitted until a case filed against Dr Matiang’i by Norman Magaya is heard and determined by the High Court. Kenya is increasingly getting polarised by the hard-line positions taken by NASA and the ruling Jubilee Party over the October 26 repeat presidential polls. That will surely lead the country down a slippery path from which it will be hard to find sure footing.
Yet it does not require anything more than President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga agreeing to a round-table discourse over the future of Kenya. Matters are not helped by the hardliners in both camps whose motivation seems to be what they stand to gain if their side emerges the victor.
It is incumbent upon Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga to put their personal differences aside and rally the country to choose peace. Freedom comes with responsibility just like to lead calls for sobriety and calmness.
