KATHURE: State must not stigmatise protest, protestors

The constitutional right to freedom of peaceful assembly, picketing, demonstration and petition continues to be stigmatised from different corners and by different actors.

Political rhetoric, legislative and policy gaps, criminalisation of protestors, police brutality, ridicule from community members and negative reporting by the media is an indications that this fundamental right is under attack from all corners.

In the recent past, Kenya has seen daily peaceful protests. In their quest to express their opinion on different issues such as the high-cost living, accountability, high cost of education, dissatisfaction with election results and the supreme court decision on the registration of LGBTIQ+ organisations Kenyans have taken to the street.

Article 19 organisation has in the last two and a half months monitored 16 protests that have been reported in the media, six of which were reported in March.

The Azimio coalition has also announced its intention to hold nationwide demonstrations from March 20.

With increased enjoyment of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and demonstration, we have also seen an increased effort by government officials and police officers in restricting the exercise of the rights.

On February 21, for example, police arrested popular comedian Eric Omondi and 17 others who were protesting against the high cost of living. Omondi and his colleagues demanded to be addressed by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula when police officers hurled teargas to disperse them, and arrested Omondi and a few other protesters.

According to reports, they were arraigned the next day and charged with participating in an unlawful assembly. A few days later, Omondi was again arrested while he was distributing food and later on released.

On March 2, the Movement for the Defence of Democracy, Nairobi chapter, also organised a protest in response to the high cost of living in the country. They were met with resistance from the police, leading to the arrest of 40 protesters. The arrested protesters had their cases diverted with the condition that they maintain good behaviour and refrain from participating in any unlawful assembly for the next three months.

This, in my opinion, looks like a means to silence and stop them from participating in protests. There are also other reports of protesters being arrested and released, including 10 students of Meru University and Shadrack Omondi, who were arrested, while attending a Bunge La Mwananchi meeting.

The right to freedom of peaceful assembly has played a key role in several reforms in Kenya, including the return of multi-party politics, the push for the new constitution and the introduction of presidential term limits.

Protests have also seen relevant agencies take action against citizens' concerns, including holding perpetrators of extrajudicial killings to account, improving service delivery and holding leaders to account. The right to peaceful assembly is a facilitative right. It is not an end on its own but a means to enjoy other rights.

Despite the evident fruits of this right, the government and other actors have continued to crush the right.

Political rhetoric such as referring to Raila Odinga as “Mtu ya Maandamano” (protest person) or Azimio Coalition supporters as “Watu wa Maandamano” (the protest people) seeks to paint protest and those who protest in a bad picture.

A recent tweet by Senator Samson Cherargei saying Raila needs to get glucose because he’ll be on his heels on Monday suggests that the planned rallies will be met with force and disrupted by police thus creating fear among those who plan to participate.

The continued use of force while managing public order by the police inflicts fear among the public thus discouraging citizens’ enjoyment of their right to peaceful assembly.

As we later on learnt, the protest by the Meru University students against the removal of Vice Chancellor Romanus Odhiambo by the university council was founded on valid reasons.

The VC was later on reinstated by Education Cabinet Secretary,who termed his removal as unfair.

The Kenya: Restricting the right to be heard a report by Article 19 found that, instead of protecting against protest, Kenya’s police are frequently responsible for unlawful conduct, including brutal use of force, violent repression and unlawful arrests of protesters.

Police are meant to exercise restraint and actively help facilitate the right to protest.

Instead, police brutality often leads to tragic consequences and those responsible face little accountability.

In addition to the use of excessive force by police in managing the Meru University student protest, several media houses reported the protest as a riot.

Reporting protests as riot criminalises the action and adds to the stigma against protests and protestors. Riots are not protected by law and are punishable under the Penal Code.

Lastly, the gaps in legislative and policy frameworks have played a part in stigmatising protests and protesters.

Despite being provided for in Article 37 of the Constitution and in international and regional human rights frameworks that Kenya is a party to, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights the right to protest continue to be seen as a threat to government stability and protestors seen as trouble makers.

Spontaneous protests are not expressly protected under the Public Order Management Act while Penal Code criminalises collective action by the citizens.

To ensure Kenyans enjoy their right to protest, politicians need to stop the rhetoric that stigmatises protest, parliament amend unconstitutional laws, the media reports positively on the right to protest and more awareness of the right is created in our communities

Muthuri Kathure is the senior program officer (Civic Space) at Article 19 Eastern Africa.

@MuthuriKathure