A series of security meetings attended by senior police and national administration officers have kicked off following the government’s resolve to counter protests planned to begin tomorrow and end on Friday.
The Nation has established that already, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had shared briefs with security bosses, which are to be cascaded to the county security committees.
It is understood that intelligence information indicates that the country is likely to witness spontaneous and sporadic demonstrations like it happened last Wednesday.
On Monday, Internal Security and National Administration Permanent Secretary Raymond Omollo chaired a meeting attended by national administration officials while Deputy Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja chaired another attended by the eight regional commanders.
According to a statement released after the meetings, the PS instructed regional and county commissioners to ensure that lives and property are protected.
“What we have seen is looting, loss of lives and destruction of property. From today, if anything goes wrong, we’re not going to blame anyone; it is us. And as the chairs of the Security and Intelligence Committees, you must put adequate measures in place in every county and region to deal with this issue,” Dr Omollo stated.
Protest chaos may go a notch higher than last week as politicians sponsor counter-protests in what may lead to deadly clashes.
As police remain mum on their strategies, there is doublespeak on whether the protests are allowed or not. While senior officials from the interior ministry led by Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and Dr Omollo have said that protests and gatherings are allowed between 6am and 6pm under the Public Order Act, Inspector-General of Police Japhet Koome has maintained that the protests are illegal.
Speaking in Tharaka Nithi on Sunday, Prof Kindiki said the government has not banned public rallies. He however warned anyone planning to cause chaos will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
“Anyone planning to paralyse the economy, injure innocent citizens, loot private property and vandalise public property on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or any other day, not just in Nairobi but across the 47 counties in the country, will be dealt with accordingly,” said Prof Kindiki.
In the July 8 demos, police were caught off-guard in Kisii where day-long violent protests occurred ,paralysing transport on all main roads as most officers had been deployed to Kisumu where violence was anticipated.
Last week, the protests spread to Nyeri, Wote in Makueni, Mlolongo in Machakos, Nakuru, Laikipia, Kilifi and Kajiado, among other counties.
According to sources within the service, police deployment will still be concentrated in areas that intelligence has highlighted as likely to be chaotic.
“It is for this reason that police officers who are currently on leave are yet to be recalled to beef up support,” an officer told the Nation without revealing the finer details of the counter strategy. Officers who will be deployed will learn of the strategy today.
Those to be deployed include General Service Unit officers who have been deployed since the demonstrations began and who formed part of the team that reinforced support in Mlolongo last week. Also expected to beef up support are Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives and prison officers, who have been deployed in the last two protests in Nairobi and Kisii.
