NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 – Deputy President Righathi Gachagua has called upon the former president Uhuru Kenyatta to reach out to opposition leader Raila Odinga and ask him to abandon Monday protests.
Terming Odinga’s move as “ungodly, unacceptable and and immoral” Gachagua cautioned that the planned protests may lead to destruction of property in Nairobi.
Speaking during a thanksgiving service in Kapsabet, Gachagua said Azimio protests are an attempt to ruin the little left of the country after the two leaders (Uhuru and Raila) “wrecked the economy” during the handshake era.
“Please Uhuru Kenyatta, within the few remaining hours look for your brother tell him to stop that nonsense of bringing people to Nairobi to destroy property,” he said.
The DP accused Kenyatta of funding Odinga’s mass action plan.
“Stop funding Raila and his people to come and destroy the little that is remaining, how ungrateful are you to the people of Kenya,” he said.
“How ungrateful can you be with your brother to fund Azimio to create chaos in Nairobi to come and destroy property yet you have so much property?” Gachagua charged, accusing Kenyatta of being insensitive to the needs of poor Kenyans.
Self-funded protest
Odinga had however denied the allegations of receiving funding from Kenyatta during a media interview on Saturday night.
He said members of the Azimio coalition were voluntarily raising funds for the coalition’s activities.
“This protest is not being funded by anyone, the people themselves are funding it. Nobody has that large amount of money to able to foot the expenses of the movement,” Odinga told Citizen TV.
During the interview, Odinga suggested the coalition had abandoned a plan to storm State House during the protests but later revived the plan.
The Azimo Coalition leader made the announcement on Sunday hours after he said during a media interview on Saturday night plans to storm State House had been shelved.
He told his supporters the protest will set off at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) through Parliament before culminating at State House.
“Kenyans, tomorrow is a public holiday. We will be assembling in Nairobi and if you can not come to Nairobi, demonstrate where you are in your own way peacefully,” he told a public rally in Rongai, Nakuru county.
“By 6 in the morning we will be up and running in the streets of Nairobi. We will march from KICC to the state house to claim our victory, it is time to save our country if not not then right now,” he said.
Change of tune
Odinga had, during an interview on Citizen TV, clarified that not all supporters will storm State House acknowledging that it is a protected area where only authorized persons are allowed in.
“We will hand the petition to the President wherever he will be. If he is at his office, we will take it there. If he is at State House, we will hand it over there,” he said.
“We will walk peacefully and only a few of us two or three people will walk into the State House to present the petition,” Odinga explained.
His change on tune came moments after the Nairobi Police Commander termed the planned Monday protest as illegal.
Illegal meeting
Adamson Bungei cited failure by opposition leaders to adhere to provisions of the Public Order Act.
Addressing the media on Sunday, Bungei insisted the protests slated for Monday contravene the Public Order Act, 2021 and pose a threat to peace.
Bungei said the police had received requests from two groups (Nairobi business community and the Azimio party) intending to hold protests on the same day and decided to grant none the permit to protest.
“We are in receipt of two requests that came late yesterday and today in the m morning. One was from Azimio la Umoja One Kenya and another from the Nairobi business community, the two groups intended to have peaceful demos. But for public safety none has been granted,” he said.
“The Public Orders Act, 2012 provides that any person intending to convene any meeting or a public procession shall notify the regulating officer of such intent at least three days but not more than fourteen days before the proposed date of the public meeting,” he pointed out.
Bungei said the two groups did not meet the threshold to be allowed to carry on with planned protests and warned of dire consequences should any of the formations break the law.
“Any person who will participate in the planned demonstrations is notified to do so peacefully as guided by the constitution of Kenya,” he said.
“However, anyone who breach the peace or break the law during the procession shall be dealt with according to the law.”
Bungei assured Kenyans that their security and that of their properties is guaranteed.
