Youths demonstrate during the June 25 anniversary demos/ HANDOUTLast week’s events arising from the commemoration of the Gen Z demonstrations of last year, wrote a dark chapter in Kenya’s history.
And we could so far as to say that the police response to the violence, which erupted alongside these Gen Z demonstrations, threatened a return to the days when those serving in a thoroughly brutalised police force, would freely victimise innocent Kenyans, believe that they would get away with it.
While at the same time, large crowds of supposedly “peaceful demonstrators” took advantage of the chaos to focus on those areas, which had no police presence, and to loot shops (especially supermarkets) whose owners were, once again, innocent Kenyans.
One idea predominated in most of the analyses of these distressing events: the lack of economic opportunity for young Kenyans, at every level.
And I think it is true to say that if the younger of the policemen who were so eager to wield their truncheons and teargas and water cannons against the protesters had been unemployed, they might have been “demonstrators” rushing to loot supermarkets or chanting derogatory slogans against the government.
While by the same token, if the young men who were so fearlessly confronting the policemen had the opportunity to join the police service, not only would they eagerly seize the opportunity, but I doubt if they (if serving as policemen) would have shown any mercy towards any “demonstrators” that fell into their hands.
In brief, although we tend to focus on the specific acts of violence caught on camera, the extreme violence, which nowadays accompanies what were supposed to be “peaceful demonstrations”, is a systemic problem, which will not be easy to resolve. It will no more be easy to get the Kenyan public to have faith in the police, as it will be to persuade businesspeople that they need not close and barricade their business premises if there is a “peaceful demonstration” on the horizon.
Certainly, any demonstration which leaves the Nairobi CBD resembling a large dumpsite cannot be judged to have been “peaceful.”
But amidst all this gloom, I seemed to detect one hopeful sign. And this is that Kenyans apparently still have faith in their institutions. Or some of their institutions, at least.
I base this view on the slogan, which seemed to be most loudly yelled at the genuine demonstrations (i.e. those not infiltrated by looters): that President William Ruto must at all costs be a one-term president. The demonstrators of course phoneticised this slogan to “Wantam”. And this is what was heard over and over again.
Why do I see this as
proof of Kenyans having faith in their institutions?
Well, largely because this is a declaration that for all the depth of anti-Ruto passion within these groups of demonstrators, they recognise that he is the validly elected president of Kenya. Also that it is unlikely that there can be a successful move to impeach him.
And so the anti-Ruto masses are willing to wait until the next election and to cast their votes for whoever they believe can defeat him at the ballot.
This is a hopeful sign for three reasons.
First, it reveals that
they have confidence in the democratic process and so are willing to wait until
the current term being served by the President is over, and presidential elections
are called as per the constitution.
Second, that they have faith that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission with all its manifest weaknesses and limitations, will be able to deliver a credible election.
And finally, that if the presidential election is judged to have failed to deliver a verdict that accurately reflects the will of the Kenyan people, they have the option of seeking redress at the Supreme Court.
These three points may not have featured in any shape or form in the chanted slogans of the demonstrators. But such is the logical extension of their declared intention to make Ruto a one-term President.
Such slogans presuppose a respect for the institutions that these genuine demonstrators will rely on, in their resolve to vote for whoever they believe can defeat the president, in a free and fair election.
