Street clashes loom as Ruto men vow to confront Azimio protestors next week
National Assembly majority leader Kimani Ichung'wa (left) and Senate majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot (right). Led by the two House leaders, President Ruto-allied politicians announced they will counter the Azimio-led protests next week.
The ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance on Saturday warned that it will counter the anti-government protests that the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party has slated for Wednesday, July 19.
Azimio says the protests are aimed at compelling the government to lower the cost of living and recall the Finance Act, 2023 that they have adjudged to be punitive in tax proposals.
But in a move likely to escalate tensions in the country, the ruling coalition met President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, and emerged with a joint statement thus: "As elected leaders of Kenya Kwanza, we have resolved to cooperate with the police and our constituents to ensure that there is no further loss of life and livelihoods..."
Kenya Kwanza has hit out that "the government is addressing the issue of the cost of living but these demonstrations are not about that".
To counter the protests, Ruto-allied politicians announced, without specifying, that they will counter the Azimio-led protests in a manner that highly bares jitters for street clashes.
"Going forward, we and the people that we represent shall protect property, guard peace and lives against these destructive elements," read a joint statement by the National Assembly and Senate majority leaders, Kimani Ichung'wa and Aaron Cheruiyot respectively.
“As leaders, we call on the police to firmly deal with the gangs and we commit to play our part in ensuring that there will be no further loss of life, destruction of property and sabotage of our economy by political anarchists.
"On Wednesday, we shall protect our Country, our people, our property and our democracy".
They said that opposition leader Raila Odinga and the Azimio leadership have in the past six months mounted a campaign of violence, bloodshed and anarchy against the people of Kenya over their collective defeat in the August 9, 2022 General Election.
"Their protests have cost innocent lives, caused massive destruction of property and led to the torching of government and private buildings. Our security forces have suffered and businesses across sections of the country have faced looting and massive loss of revenues," the two said.
They said that the protests are a product of a refusal to accept reality and the desire to find a backdoor entry into government.
"The intention is to flout the law, the design is to cause chaos and make businesses suffer in the false hope that this will cause a power-sharing arrangement," they said.
The ruling alliance's statement added that "what we are witnessing is not an exercise of the freedom to assemble as enshrined in Article 37 of the Constitution. Instead, it is purely a criminal effort by paid and hired gangs to create mayhem, anarchy and terrorism against Kenyans and sabotage a legitimately elected government".
They reiterated that the Constitution sets out clear parameters for demonstrations in Kenya, the most basic of which is the requirement to notify the police, maintain order and keep the peace.
"It is clear that all these legal requirements have been consistently flouted with abandon, but also with impunity. We all know where the Lord of violence, is headed with the destructive demonstrations: Cause chaos and shed blood with a view to forcing a handshake," it said.
In this claimed blackmail campaign, the House leaders countered that "Mr Odinga will fail. For the avoidance of doubt the Handshake is not and will never be an option, now and in the future".
They said that "the violent demonstrations witnessed in recent months have been financed by Odinga’s sponsors where tens of millions of shillings are shipped across the country ahead of every demonstration where youths are mobilised and paid between Sh500 and Sh3,000 each".
Introducing the International Criminal Court (ICC) emotions, Mr Ichung'wa and Mr Cheruiyott said "Those who orchestrate, plan and finance the violence have also occasioned mass displacement of civilian populations and businesses deemed to be owned by people from other communities".
They urged the Inspector-General of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate all acts of criminality, arrest perpetrators and charge them.
"But it is not just the violent demonstrators who should be prosecuted; the financiers and mobilisers of criminal gangs should also be charged with the various crimes that their money procures. We also urge them to investigate the planned mobilization of ethnic criminal gangs being deployed to cause anarchy in strategic areas across the country," they said.
In defending the government against accusations of being insensitive to the high cost of living, the two countered that the Ruto administration has tried hard to spice up the quality of living.
They said that the government has increased funding in the education sector including funding of the universities that were steeped in debt and also the technical and vocational colleges.
"Consequently, more young people from vulnerable families are now able to access higher education through a new funding model. In addition, the government has set aside funds for the school feeding programme that will cater for four million school-going children," they said.
They added that the government is doing all it takes to address the historical challenge of unemployment through deliberate efforts geared towards creation of digital jobs and over one million jobs a year in various sectors, including housing, manufacturing, county industrial parks and aggregation centres as well as in designated special economic zones.
"We also hail the government’s roll out of the Hustler Fund. As a result, more than 20 million Kenyans have been able to access the cheapest credit in Kenya and borrowed over Sh33 billion to start or improve their businesses," the two said.
They said that the next phase of the rollout targeting small and medium enterprises is coming soon.
"This financial year, the government has reduced the budget deficit by a whopping Sh500 billion. The Government has also enumerated transformational measures in the Finance Act including protection of local manufacturers, especially those in steel, cement and furniture," they saud.
The two added that "there are steps mooted already to boost tea, coffee and cotton farming through value addition. Fishing, too, has been protected by raising taxes on imports. All these measures are geared towards guaranteeing jobs for the youth".
In further measures addressing the cost of living they said, "close to 20 taxes have been removed or significantly reduced. When the courts are done with the suit on the Finance Act, the cost of cooking gas, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals will come down significantly, making life more affordable for the majority of Kenyans".
The government has also subsidised fertiliser to farmers, they added, leading to reduction of fertiliser prices from a high of Sh7,000 to Sh3,500.
"Consequently, industrious farmers across the country put an extra 200,000 acres of land under production. In the next two months, a bumper harvest is expected and we commend all our farmers for their efforts," they said.
