Protesters fail to take plea as more than 100 are held on court orders

Anti-riot police officers confront protestors who had barricaded a section of the road during anti-government protests in Nakuru city on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

More than 100 protesters arrested during Wednesday's anti-government demonstrations over the rising cost of living were remanded even as the police released others unconditionally.

In Busia, a court ordered that seven people be remanded until Wednesday next week after the prosecution said it could not proceed with the case due to a language barrier.

“Your honour, we beg to defer the plea taking because one of the accused neither understands Kiswahili nor English. He says he is a Ugandan, and we will have to look for a Muganda translator to read him the charges,” said the state lawyer.

The Busia Resident Magistrate's court allowed the application by the State to get a translator before the seven suspects can answer the charges.

In Nyanza, some 27 people were charged with participation in unlawful assembly. Nine of these were charged at the Kisii Law Courts. The suspects, who included medical students and two boda boda operators, denied the charges before Principal Magistrate Carolyn Ocharo and were released on Sh3,000 cash bail each.

In Migori, 18 people were charged at the Migori and Rongo law courts over the demonstrations. Eleven of these appeared before Rongo law courts on charges of unlawful assembly. They denied all the charges and were released on a cash bail of Sh10,000 with an alternative of a bond of Sh50,000.

In Nakuru County, 36 people were arrested and county police commander Samuel Ndanyi confirmed the suspects were being detained in different police stations within

Indications were that the 36 could have been arraigned on Friday. However, there was a miscellaneous application by the police who sought orders to detain them and beat the 24-hour detention deadline.

However, by 5pm, no one had been charged in court, with police only opening a miscellaneous file against one suspect, before Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Ndege.

Lawyer Paul Wanjir, who was to represent seven of the arrested people, waited for his clients to be arraigned in vain.

In Mombasa, 18 protestors were released unconditionally after more than eight hours in police cells.

Three long-distance truck drivers were protesting against the National Transport and Safety Authority's new regulations aimed to tame road accidents in the country.

[Patrick Beja, Anne Atieno, Eric Abuga, Robert Amalemba and Daniel Chage]