Nairobi Woman representative Esther Passaris has announced that she will pause the pre-publication process of a controversial Protest Bill, the Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2025.
Taking to social media on Monday, the legislator said that the halt will pave way for national dialogue and public engagement on the Bill.
“This is an invitation to co-create legislation that safeguards constitutional freedoms while ensuring public order,” she wrote.
“A just society is not built by force or fear, but by accountability on all sides from citizens to state officers. It is my hope that this conversation will shift from confrontation to collaboration.”
Her move comes as a heed to a call by the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) to withdraw the Bill ahead of the planned Saba Saba protests.
The Bill seeks to prohibit public gatherings from Parliament and other protected areas as well as demarcating areas of assembly and protest zones to prevent the destruction of property.
Her proposal has been opposed by a number of parliamentarians and politicians who cite the violation of constitutional rights, with a few supporting it.
She however urged the churches to play their role in advocating for the culture of peaceful demostrations.
“Let us teach and encourage a culture of peaceful protest, lawful engagement, and respectful disagreement values rooted in faith and democracy alike,” Passaris added.
SabaSaba is remembered as the day when Kenyans took to the streets on July 7, 1990, to the approval of multiparty democracy in Kenya, leading to the repealing of Section 2A of the constitution.
Before then, Kenya was a one-party State under the Kenya African National Union (KANU) regime led by the late President Daniel Moi.
Officers on Monday barricaded all roads leading to the capital, forcing motorists to turn back and pedestrians being told to walk kilometres into the CBD.
