Ex-MP Kathangu says Saba Saba protests did not achieve ideals
Former Runyenjes MP Njeru Kathangu has stated that Saba Saba failed to achieve its ideals from the protests in the 1990s.
Speaking during a live TV debate on Sunday, July 6, 2025, Kathangu indicated that the reasons why the youth are agitating for good governance in this age are that Saba Saba did not fully achieve what it set out to.
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“This generation is actually fighting for something, which means that Saba Saba did not and has not achieved, and because it has not achieved, then what we must do is to enhance our struggle to be able to achieve the first intentions of Saba Saba,” Kathangu observed.
Beautiful promise
I coordinated the Saba Saba activities of July 7th, 1990. We lost about 15-30 people in Nairobi, and about 70 were hurt. We had about 3000 arrests that day. Did Daniel Moi and his government respond to our grievances and struggles? Yes, he detained all of us. What I see before me is a beautiful promise of where Kenya is going,” the former legislator noted.
Saba Saba Day is a date etched in the nation’s history as a symbol of its enduring struggle for democracy and human rights. Some of the ideals have yet to be achieved, according to ODM Party leader Raila Odinga, whose father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, participated in the demos.
The protests called by Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia, Odinga and other political leaders at the time, at the Kamukunji Grounds, were prohibited by the one-party government of President Daniel Moi, but the leaders defied the orders, leading to a deadly crackdown which left several people dead.
Multipartyism
The brutal response, however, only served to galvanise the public further, intensifying the pressure on Moi’s regime and igniting a broader national movement for democratic reforms.
Consequently, sustained pressure from activists, civil society, and the international community forced the repeal of Section 2A of the Constitution in December 1991, which had enshrined Kenya as a de jure one-party state.
This landmark change paved the way for the reintroduction of multi-party politics and marked a significant step forward in Kenya’s journey towards a more open and democratic society.
