The government should probably do the right thing and declare Wednesday, June 25, a national holiday. It’s the first anniversary of that pivotal moment last year when youthful GenZ protesters against oppressive taxation stormed the ramparts with triumphant entry into the hallowed grounds of Parliament.
It was a short-lived occupation that did not quite achieve the promise of a Storming of the Bastille, the key point in July 14, 1789, when revolutionaries entered the medieval fortress, armoury and prison which was seen as a symbol, in the centre of Paris, of the French monarchy’s abuse of power.
Bastille Day, July 14, is to date celebrated in France as national holiday. There is even preserved an official list of Vainqueurs de la Bastille (conquerors of the Bastille) with 954 names of the patriots who successfully stormed a symbol of tyrannical rule.
Our GenZ patriots did not quite achieve an overthrow of the regime, but June 25 was still a revolutionary moment insofar as it liberated the minds of citizens who previously viewed the government as an unshakeable entity beyond all challenges.
It is no exaggeration to say that the ‘Occupy Parliament’ moment shook President William Ruto’s government to the core.
It was with a trembling and uncertain voice that the President addressed the nation during those epochal moments. He certainly knew how close he had come to facing the fate of dictators elsewhere who had been forced out by people power; but he was quick and nimble enough to adapt to circumstances and act on demands for change.
It is now clear, however, that the concessions he made were not genuine. He used them to buy time, and also buy the political opposition. The so-called broad-based government he formed with opposition leader Raila Odinga was the classic convergence of the political elite from both sides of the spectrum to counter the popular will.
The reactionary regime put in place is now clearly worse even than what existed before June 25, applying brutal methods including extra-judicial executions, abductions, torture, forced disappearances and illegal confinement to stamp out all forms of dissent.
President Jomo Kenyatta used his state security machinery, notably the notorious ‘Special Branch’ intelligence outfit, to jail and kill his opponents. President Daniel arap Moi did the same. He reacted to the failed 1982 coup attempt with vicious assaults on basic freedoms, including the infamous Mwakenya trials where scores university students, academics, lawyers, writers, journalists and other free thinkers were detained without trials or jailed on trumped-up charges.
Both Kenyatta and Moi have a keen and eager student in President Ruto. As if the killings of June 25 last year and the preceding few days of the GenZ revolt were not enough, the regime has been on a murder spree since then.
It has refused to account for the scores killed and disappeared during the revolt, as well all those subsequently seized by the notorious death squads run by the National Intelligence Service and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Tomorrow marks a liberating moment in Kenyan history. It is the day to remember and honour all those who participated in that revolutionary moment, and specifically the martyrs who paid with their lives.
It is paramount that the day is not marred by violence. All those coming out to mark the day with prayers, marches, song and dance must be on best behaviour. There must be no space for looters, muggers, stone-throwers, barricades or other criminal actions.
Indeed, participants owe to it themselves, and to memory of the departed, to keep the peace. They must have a mechanism to identify and isolate disorderly elements in their midst, bearing in mind that there will always be those of criminal bent out to take advantage of such gathering by going on violent orgies.
But will it be possible to have a peaceful remembrance when the State itself is employing criminals to counter peaceful protests?
A partnership of the political establishment and criminal gangs, as witnessed in Nairobi last week, is the first step towards anarchy. If the noises coming from President Ruto’s band of rabble-rousers is anything to go by, criminal gangs will again be let loose on missions of murder and plunder.
On the political soapboxes and a Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group chat forum, bloodthirsty politicians are openly salivating at the planned killing of protesters. They are unleashing monsters they will not be able to contain.
That is how low the ruling elite has sunk Kenya. We must wonder if those with blood on their hands sleep soundly at night.
