Chaos looming after police ban Azimio’s Tuesday protest

There could be fresh chaos on Tuesday after police in Nairobi banned protests organised by Azimio la Umoja. Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei has said that a decision had been made that Azimio under the leadership of Raila Odinga should not hold demonstrations in the city.

“We are declining to allow Azimio to conduct demonstrations and there will be no demos in the city of Nairobi. We also assure Kenyans of their safety during tomorrow’s (Labour Day) celebrations,” he said.

Bungei explained that he has banned the demonstrations because the three previous ones turned violent and that the demonstrators were armed. He said that the Public Order Act prohibits possession of weapons at any public meetings and that protesters must always be unarmed and peaceful.

“Processions that are not peaceful are prohibited-if they consist of violence or intimidation the demonstrations have to be stopped. Demonstrators must not be armed,” the Nairobi County police boss said.

“The Azimio demonstrations were nothing sort of peaceful as such by this letter we are declining to allow the Azimio team the go-ahead to proceed with the demonstrations and any such demonstration will be dispensed by law enforcement officers,” said Bungei.

He has told the opposition that they will know that he is the commander-in-chief should they go on with the protests.

“Mimi niliwaambia ile wiki ingine; nikaita yule mzee wa kitendawili na nikamwambia wewe wacha hii maandamano tupeleke hii maneno yote unasema bunge; wabunge waangalie kama kuna maneno ya ukweli,” said a visibly irked Ruto.

“Sasa ati wamekataa hiyo ya kwenda kuongea kwa amani kwa bunge. Ati wanataka kurudi maandamano. Ati waende wavunje mali na kuharibu biashara ya wananchi. Mimi ndio commander-in-chief. Nyinyi mtajua hamjui. Wawache hiyo mchezo.”

Dozens of police officers have already been mobilized from other regions to Nairobi in readiness of Tuesday’s protests. Bungei has argued that the right to assemble is not absolute even as it is captured in the 2010 Constitution.

“It is however noteworthy that the right to assemble is not absolute under the Constitution. The Public Order Act, Section 5a seeks to regulate public meetings and processions by providing for the need to notify the police service.”

“There is also the power of the police service to stop or prevent a public meeting where appropriate and where it is obvious it will not meet the constitutional objectives,” he said.