On Thursday Kisii town was for hours a no-go-zone when youths opposed to a planned visit by Deputy President William Ruto engaged police in running battles.
Earlier, one of the venues where the DP was supposed to address a public rally was spewed with human waste to keep him away.
Certainly those doing this are not carrying out the acts out of their own volition but at the behest of elected leaders opposed to the DP.
It is sad that elected leaders have decided to throw all caution to the wind and are now addressing public rallies where social distancing or the wearing of masks is an alien phenomena. This at a time when Kenya is yet to announce the containment of Covid-19.
However, matters Covid-19 aside, Kenya is slowly eroding the various democratic gains made since the repeal of Section 2A that brought back multi-partism after years of single party rule.
They say treat people well on your way up because you might need them on your way down.
In Kenya, the party in power has always used all means to frustrate those in the opposition forgetting that roles change and at one time the can take up the role of the opposition.
Freedom of movement, speech and association form some of the basic tenets of our constitution and the public and leaders irrespective of their standing with the government of the day must enjoy these liberties as long as they don't infringe on the rights of others.
From the utterances and actions we are already witnessing, the forthcoming 2022 elections are taking a similar pattern to the tension witnessed in 2007 which snowballed into the post-election violence.
Tolerance, maturity, respect for the rule of law and a far playing ground is required to enable a smooth transition from Uhuru Kenyatta's term to the next regime.
