Kenya marked its fight for democracy on Monday, with police blocking main roads in Nairobi ahead of potential protests, after last month’s demonstrations descended into violent clashes.
Saba Saba Day marks the uprising on July 7, 1990 when Kenyans demanded a return to multi-party democracy after years of autocratic rule by then-president Daniel arap Moi.
This year’s event comes as young Kenyans — frustrated over economic stagnation, corruption and repeated acts of police brutality — are once again engaging in protests that have degenerated into looting and violence, leaving dozens dead and thousands of businesses destroyed.
Protesters accuse the authorities of paying armed vandals to discredit their movement, while the government has compared the demos to an “attempted coup”.
On Monday, the streets of Nairobi were eerily quiet after police mounted roadblocks on the main roads, preventing most people from entering the centre, with many businesses closed for the day.
Leading activist Hanifa Aden wrote on X: “the police getting rained on as they block every road while we stay at home warming our beds.”
“Total shutdown and forced holiday executed by the state,” she said.
On Sunday afternoon, a press conference by the Kenyan Human Rights Commission calling for an end to “enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings” was broken up when men, some armed with sticks, forced their way into the compound.
Social media and rising economic expectations have created anger at inequalities in a country where around 80 percent are trapped in informal, poorly paid jobs.
But the violent response of the police — at least 80 people have died in protests since June 2024 and dozens detained illegally — has scared many off the streets.
– ‘The world is different’ –
Politically, President William Ruto — elected in 2022 — still holds a strong position having forged an alliance with the main opposition leader Raila Odinga, leaving no clear challenger ahead of the next vote in 2027.
But each violent crackdown is fuelling further unrest, said activist Nerima Wako.
“Every time people organise a protest, they kill more people, so it just continues to feed off itself,” she said.
It is as though the government is recycling tactics from the 1990s, said Gabrielle Lynch, an African politics expert at Britain’s University of Warwick.
“But we’re not in the nineties,” she said. “They don’t seem to have realised the world is different.”
“People don’t have the same inbuilt fear of the state.”
