By Our Reporters
T he three days of street protests organized by Kenya’s opposition Azmio la umoja (Alliance for national unity) brought the country to a near virtual standstill as major cities Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu were besieged by angry demonstrators. The protests shut down the economy as foreign envoys called on the government and the opposition to resolve differences peacefully as the economy was headed into deep recession.
Amnesty International said up to 30 people have been killed by police following running battles with stone throwing protesters demanding that the government lower the cost of living. Azmio minority leader in parliament Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi told Workers Eye that Wiper leader and coalition partner Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka was put under house arrest and could not leave his Karen home freely. Several other leaders had also been arrested including an MP for Vihiga, three from Kilifi, and a personal bodyguard to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Maurice Ogeto.
Odinga was meanwhile according to his daughter Winnie an EALA MP, recovering from a bad bout of flu and was missing in action during the three days of demonstrations. Odinga posted on Twitter that he would soon be back on his feet but there were widespread claims that heavily armed police had raided his Karen home and arrested his official spokesman Dennis Onyango who was released after two days. According to the sources Odinga was to be arrested on Tuesday night July 18 2023 but was tipped off and went underground. President William Ruto has pledged to “deal with Azmio protesters harshly warning that nobody would be allowed to disrupt the lives of peace loving Kenyans. President Ruto and deputy Rigathi Gachagau have ruled out any handshake” political truce like the March 9, 2018 deal between then President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga. This truce that later saw Uhuru prefer Odinga as his successor sytematically sidelined then Deputy President Ruto who then retreated to his Karen home from where he assembled a massive campaign machine for the August 2022 elections.
As Uhuru and Raila launched projects together around the country virtually making the office of Ruto an empty shell, the DP consolidated support in the vote rich Mount Kenya home turf of President Kenyatta. Ruto allies won a string of byelections in Kenyatta’s home backyard to Gatundu in Kiambu annoying the President to no small measure. Odinga’s wife was advised to start studying the state house menu and dockets in clear anticipation of victory that was later to be denied. Kenya Kwanza coalition pulled what COTU boss Francis Atwoli termed as one of the biggest setbacks ever in East Africa’s electoral history. Odinga point-men had assured Raila of 40 percent in mount Kenya which would have provided a critical swing vote to add to his countrywide support. Instead Ruto poked holes in Odinga’s traditional support bases while virtually locking out Raila in Rift Valley and Mount Kenya.
But still it was a race to the wire and Odinga claims figures were manipulated at the last minute at the Bomas national tallying centre. But this was dismissed by the Supreme Court as the opposition sulked and later claimed new findings from a mysterious whistle blower demanding opening of IEBC servers. This has since escalated to widespread opposition to the 2023 Finance bill that hiked prices of petrol effectively driving up the already high cost of living due to galloping inflation. But President Ruto faces now fresh headache from doctors, nurses, teachers and university lecturers who have given a two-week ultimatum adding to the widespread growing public discontent over escalation of prices of almost everything but more so basic goods like food items and public transport. The opposition is widely riding on this public disenchantment with the 10 – month Nairobi administration to hold street protests that have turned chaotic and seen scores killed and several injured in skirmishes by stone throwing youth and police. Odinga who had warned President Ruto against accenting to the 2023 Finance bill he termed draconian and retrogressive, and held a major rally July 7, 2023 dubbed “saba saba” to oppose the bill. The mammoth rally was held at the historical Kamukunji grounds from where Odinga, 78, vowed to hold daily street protests until the bill is rescinded. During the rally and subsequent meetings the crowd chanted ‘Ruto must go” while putting sufurias (saucepans) on the head to signify hard times as ugali is now unaffordable. Odinga, who has been missing throughout the three – day protests says President Ruto ignored a court order that had tried to stop implementation of the Finance Bill after the head of state had signed it into law.
The court order canvassed by civil rights firebrand and Busia senator Okiya Omutata was roundly ignored by the Nairobi regime as the Energy authority went on to gazette new pump prices for fuel that are now in force. Owners of public transport have in response hiked fares across the board driving up costs of travel and food prices as many low income families battle to survive. Low income Kenyans dubbed “hustlers” are staring at an economic nightmare that Prime Cabinet Secretary Hon. Musalia Mudavadi says is necessary to revamp the heavily indebted economy. Mudavadi, 62, a former Finance Minister under the Moi regime says the economy will take at least two years to recover and that Kenyans should bear with the situation. But angry Kenyans have termed this as “betrayal” saying the Kenya Kwanza coalition had in its manifesto promised to bring down the cost of living in the first 100 days! “What has happened that they are now talking of two years” fumed Martha Karua Odinga’s running-mate in the 2022 presidential elections.
She wondered whether Mudavadi wanted Kenyans to live on “oxygen” for two years. Karua accused Mudavadi of preaching a “gospel of doom” like the Shakahola “fast to see Christ” that has claimed 400 people in the deep forests of Kenya’s Indian ocean shores of Malindi. Odinga has rolled out a raft of measures that actually mirror the Uganda opposition leader Kizza Besigye style of civil disobedience that includes “defiance”and “walk to work”. The strike notice from medics and lecturers many of whom supported the Azmio coalition is supposed to provide a critical impetus to Odinga’s perceived “unga revolution” calculated at kicking President Ruto out of state house.
If he succeeds, it would be the first time that regime change in Nairobi has been forced on the country having witnessed peaceful transition since independence from colonial Britain in 1963. Kenya was first ruled by Jomo Kenyatta (1963-78) who died in office (age estimated at 89) and was succeeded by his deputy Daniel Arap Moi (1978-2002) he too has since died February 2020 aged 95. He was succeeded by Mwai Kibaki (2002-2012, he too died last year 2022 aged 90. Jomo Kenyatta’s son Uhuru, 62, became the fourth President (2013- 2022) serving his two term limit against bitter opposition from Odinga who would later become an ally and heir apparent in the 2022 elections.
Uhuru is the only surviving former Kenyan President. Compared to Uganda, all former presidents – Milton Obote, Idi Amin, Prof Yusuf Lule, Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, Tito Okello Lutwa , and Paulo Muwanga, have long gone to their creater leaving longest leading President Yoweri Museveni, 78, calling the shots. The gathering storm against President Ruto, who is still a youthful 57 compared to Odinga, could well complicate his first term and spoil his chances for re-election in 2027. Nothing appeals more to the public like protesting against high food prices and Odinga a five time presidential contender is milking this to the limit. The adage that “a hungry man is an angry man” is the euphoria Odinga is determined to whip up in his bid to clinch the top office that has eluded him for 25 years■
