Every year on July 7, Kenya commemorates Saba Saba Day, the day in 1990 when thousands of Kenyans took to the streets demanding an end to one-party rule and the restoration of multiparty democracy. As is the case to this day, the demonstrations were met with police brutality, mass arrests, and deaths. Yet despite the violence, and the fact that the demands of the day were not to be met immediately, Saba Saba became a defining moment in Kenya's democratic history, laying the foundation for constitutional reforms that many believed would finally dismantle authoritarian rule. For years, Saba Saba Day has been commemorative as the demands of 1990 were eventually met. Thirty-six years later, however, the government is once again increasingly treating public dissent as a security threat rather than a democratic right. The parallels between 1990 and today are difficult to ignore. While the political actors have changed and the language of governance has become more sophisticated, the State's instinctive response to public criticism remains remarkably consistent. In fact, it can be argued that the conditions today are worse, given that surveillance technologies and the weapons used during protests have improved.
Analysing the protests of the 1990s beyond the sensationalised aspect that was the demand for a multiparty State, the Saba Saba movement sought more than the introduction of competitive elections. It was a demand for accountable leadership, economic justice, political freedoms, and a state that served its citizens rather than ruled over them. Multiparty elections were intended to be a means towards these goals, and not the goals themselves. Yet over the past three decades, we have witnessed the multiparty dream being watered down, as democracy has often been reduced to the ritual of voting every five years while everyday governance has become increasingly insulated from public participation and, even where participation is allowed, it is performative, with the government acting autonomously rather than as a servant of its people.
The events of the past two years have exposed this contradiction. The youth-led protests against the Finance Bill 2024 demonstrated that many Kenyans no longer believe that elections alone guarantee democratic accountability. When Parliament appeared determined to pass legislation despite overwhelming public opposition, citizens turned to the streets as one of the few remaining avenues through which they could make their voices heard. It therefore remained true that, just as it was in the past, demonstration, even at great risk, remains the last bastion of true political expression from the people. In spite of this, the State's response was swift and devastating. Instead of engaging with the substance of citizens' grievances, public officials frequently portrayed demonstrators as criminals and enemies of national stability. Such narratives echo those deployed during the one-party era when dissent itself was framed as a threat to the nation.
Understanding the similarities teaches us that indeed, Saba Saba Day was not only about multiparty elections. Now that we have been under the multiparty system for over 30 years, it behooves us to question why the dreams of this new version of democracy did not entirely pan out. The first issue, and one that becomes increasingly apparent with every election and with the improvement of technology, is that Kenyans are not allowed to freely vote for the best candidate for the job. Aside from the constant decision of the media to manufacture consent for certain leaders by platforming them while giving little to no airtime to other, equally or even more qualified political options, there is the threat of technological tampering through consulting firms such as Cambridge Analytica.
As Kenya commemorates another Saba Saba, it is worth remembering that democracy is not a destination reached through constitutional reform alone. It is an ongoing political practice that requires governments to be open to criticism and remain accountable to the people they govern. It also requires the people to remain alive to the conditions that they live under and modify their struggle to align with the changes and upheavals of their time.
Elections matter, but they cannot substitute for meaningful public participation between electoral cycles. If Saba Saba taught Kenya anything, it is that democracy has never been gifted from above. It has always been won through the courage of ordinary citizens willing to demand more from those who govern them. That lesson remains as urgent today as it was in 1990. Ms Njahira is an international lawyer
