NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 — Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has restated the government’s commitment to protect business in Nairobi during a planned protest by Azimio supporters on Monday.
Speaking at Kianyaga Boys High School Alumni Day where he pursued his secondary education, Gachagua said the government would firmly follow the law to ensure no one breaks it under the guise of the right to protest.
“Adequate arrangements have been made to protect lives and property on Monday and I would like to ask the people to carry on with their business,” he said on Saturday.
He assured Kenyans, particularly those who will be around Nairobi’s Central Business District, that security agencies will be on high alert to counter any acts of lawlessness from protesters.
Uhuru conspiracy
Gachagua accused Raila Odinga, the mobilizer of the protests, of conspiring with former President Uhuru Kenya to wreck the economy, bringing it to its knees under the Jubilee administration.
He said Azimio is seeking to destroy “what little there is” and sabotage efforts by President William Ruto’s administrations to restore stability.
The DP added that the protests being led by Odinga part of an old playbook.
“It has been the script in the last four years. This time round it cannot work,” Gachagua said.
“Kenya is stable; and the President is firmly in control, the people who are sponsoring Mzee (Odinga) should stop living in denial. The Mzee lost, there is nothing they can do,” he asserted.
No intimidation
Gachagua maintained that Odinga will not succeed in intimidating President Ruto.
“William Ruto and I are people who cannot be intimidated. He managed to intimidate Uhuru but we want to tell him it cannot happen with Ruto,” he stated.
Azimio has sought to assure peaceful protests against the Kenya Kwanza government on Monday.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka had affirmed that all protests by the Opposition outfit to denounce government excesses and non-delivery of campaign promises will not involve acts of lawlessness
“I want to issue an edict in accordance with Article 37, what we are doing today, what we shall do in the future as we go for the countdown, will be guided by our absolute adherence to Constitution 2010 and in particular Article 37, that we will do peaceful demonstrations,” he said.
Kalonzo noted that the law allows demonstrations, picketing and assemblies as long as they are peaceful.
The Opposition has since written to the police in Nairobi to notify them of Monday’s mass action.
Former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya did so in a letter dated March 17 which was addressed to the Officer Commanding Station, Central Police Station, Nairobi.
“We notify you that on Monday, March 20, 2023, we will be holding a procession within the Nairobi metropolitan area,” the letter read in part.
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