Azimio leader Raila Odinga says the coalition will no longer marshal its followers for street protests but instead ask them to remain in their homes as a silent dissent against the government.
Speaking at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Park in Bondo, Siaya on Friday, Raila said the move will forestall cases of police brutality against opposition supporters and loss of lives.
“Next time we will not tell people to come out to the streets; we will tell them to stay in their homes and see what they (government) are going to do. We will tell them to stay at home and stop anyone who tries to come out,” the opposition leader said.
Odinga emphasized, by asking its supporters to stay at home, the opposition will still achieve its goal of pressuring the Kenya Kwanza administration to pay attention to the demands of the people.
“These acts will not cow us; we don’t even have to bring people on the streets. We can tell them to stay at home [and] that is another way of expressing displeasure and dissatisfaction,” he said.
Citing cases of police brutality during the previous anti-government protests, Odinga accused the government of targeting innocent people and using the police to spread chaos.
‘Government-sanctioned murders’
He accused President William Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua of sanctioning the use of brutal force against opposition supporters.
Odinga faulted Ruto for publicly praising the police instead of denouncing their actions.
“Inspector General Japhet Koome is but an instrument because we have heard Ruto bragging all over that the police have done a good job and that they will not allow public property to be destroyed,” said Odinga.
“Which property was being destroyed in Bondo, Sondu, Migori or Nyalenda?” he asked while referring to civilian deaths linked to the police there.
“These were planned wanton killing of our people, and the basis of these were laid by your Deputy Gachagua,” Odinga said in remarks directed at the Head of State.
He called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the international community step in to investigate the deaths and guarantee that Kenyans’ rights are upheld.
“We want the international community to stand with Kenya; we are saddened to see that the diplomatic community resident in Kenya are silent when fundamental rights of Kenyan people are being violated by the regime,” he said.
Kenya has numerously contested the characterization of riotous protests by the opposition Azimio Coalition as peaceful terming them “anti-democratic”.
In July, the Foreign Office wrote to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR, denouncing claims by the UN Rights Office on alleged violations.
Kenya’s Permanent Mission said the protests called by Odinga were anything but peaceful.
“Such a designation belies the widely and credibly documented ground reality,” Kenya asserted in a comprehensive response to a statement issued Friday by UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence.
