Kalonzo condemns police over their conduct during Saba Saba Day

Police keep vigil as motorists are diverted along barricaded Parliament road, Nairobi during the Saba Saba Day commemorations on July 7,2026. [Elvis Ogina,Standard]

Wiper Patriotic Front Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka condemned the National Police Service for turning its guns and batons on the citizens it exists to protect during the 36th Saba Saba Day.

Kalonzo said that Peaceful marchers were met with an excessive deployment of police officers, roadblocks and the deliberate closure of major roads, effectively curtailing the constitutional freedoms of movement, assembly and peaceful protest.

The Wiper Party Leader raised concerns that Plainclothes and masked officers forcibly seized young Kenyans from our streets into unmarked vehicles across the country while concealing their identities in blatant disregard of the rule of law and existing court orders.

“This is not policing, this is intimidation in service of a regime that fears its own people, even more disturbing is the growing pattern of police officers appearing to act alongside or provide protection to organised criminal gangs and militia groups that have terrorised innocent Kenyans in broad daylight,” said Kalonzo.

He pointed out that during the attacks on the Linda Mwananchi team in Kisii, at a hotel in Westlands, Nairobi and along Thika Road citizens were robbed and assaulted while law enforcement officers either stood by or failed to intervene such conduct gravely undermines public confidence in the National Police Service and has no place in a constitutional democracy.

Kalonzo reminded the National Police Service of its own motto: "Utumishi Kwa Wote — Service to All.” Not service to an individual or a political administration, but service to Kenya, to her Constitution, and to every Kenyan who calls this country home.

“Ask yourselves whose interests you defend when you arrest a mother marching for her missing son, or fire teargas at a student demanding accountability, I equally condemn the escalating attacks on opposition leaders, independent media and dissenting voices.

He said that the return of political intolerance under the Ruto regime is a dangerous attempt to drag Kenya back to the dark days of dictatorship that Saba Saba sought to end, a nation cannot claim to be democratic while intimidating political competitors, silencing the press and criminalising peaceful dissent.

Kalonzo said that these actions offend both the letter and the spirit of our Constitution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of every Kenyan arrested today while peacefully exercising their constitutional right to demonstrate.

“Peaceful protest is not a crime. It is a right expressly guaranteed under Article 37 of the Constitution, and no Kenyan should be detained for exercising that right, I also demand for immediate disciplinary action against all security agencies for their actions or inaction that has led to the violation of Kenyans constitutional rights,” said Kalonzo.

He said that when they form the next Government after the August 10, 2027 General Elections, we will deliver comprehensive police reform they will ensure every abduction and every death in custody is independently investigated and those responsible held fully accountable.

Kalonzo said when they get to power they will end the use of unmarked vehicles and unidentified officers against civilians and build a Police Service that answers to the Constitution, not to political power.