- Raila has previously declared 'public holidays' but the government has been forced to denounce them as illegal.
- Raila wants Kenyans to use March 20 'holiday' to travel to Nairobi for a March to State House.
Image: SCREENGRAB
After Raila Odinga unlawfully declared March 20 a public holiday, the government is yet to respond with all eyes on Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki.
The country's laws do not vest such authority to declare a public holiday on any other opposition leader or government official except the CS in charge of the Interior and National Administration.
The Public Holidays Act CAP 110(3), empowers the CS to declare any day a public holiday outside of those provided for under the Constitution as national holidays.
The Public Holidays Act stipulates that such a declaration or alteration must be given legal backing through a public notice in the Kenya Gazette.
“The Cabinet Secretary may at any time if he thinks fit, by notice in the Gazette, declare any day to be a public holiday either in addition to the days mentioned in the Schedule or in substitution for any of those days and either throughout Kenya or in any sub-county area or part thereof, and thereupon any day so appointed shall be a public holiday in all respects as if it were a day mentioned in the Schedule, in Kenya or the locality specified in the notice; and where, in any year, any day is so declared to be a public holiday in substitution for any of the days mentioned in the Schedule such latter-day shall in such year cease to be a public holiday in Kenya or the locality specified in the notice,” reads the Act.
Raila, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Party Leader, had on Tuesday declared Monday, March 20, 2023, a 'public holiday' to allow Kenyans to participate in planned demonstrations.
He spoke in Siaya county where he urged his supporters to participate in the planned countrywide mass action which seeks to compel the government to lower the cost of living.
He said the demonstrations would be peaceful as he also urged participants to conduct themselves in an orderly manner.
"In the name of Azimio one Kenya Alliance, I declare that Monday, March 20 shall be a public holiday,” Raila said.
Raila's latest move mirrors past controversial declarations of public holidays and which forced the government to come out to make clarifications.
In 2018, at the height of the NASA protests against then President Uhuru Kenyatta, the government through then Interior CS Fred Matiang'i was forced to dismiss a January 30 'public holiday' declaration,
Raila had urged Kenyans to use the holiday to travel to Nairobi to attend his mock swearing in as the people's president.
A fake gazette notice was then circulated on social media urging Kenyans to attend the Uhuru Park event for Raila's 'swearing in' ceremony.