Kalonzo: Kenya has been unstable due to police brutality since 2023
By Nancy Marende, July 25, 2025Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has attributed Kenya’s ongoing instability to what he described as sustained police brutality, particularly in response to public protests since 2023.
Speaking to international media on Friday, July 25, 2025, Kalonzo said the unrest began after the 2022 General Elections but intensified in 2023 and 2024, particularly with the introduction of the unpopular Finance Bill 2024.
He said the situation has worsened due to the government’s harsh response to demonstrators, many of whom were young people advocating for transparency and accountability.
“This has happened since 2024, mainly when the country had unpopular taxation. I can even add 2023 after the last general elections in 2022. The country has been very unstable because of police brutality,” he said.
He emphasised that the 2010 Constitution grants Kenyans the freedom to assemble, picket, and express themselves peacefully, referencing Article 37 as the legal backbone of those rights.
“Kenya is apparently at a crossroads because of the 2010 constitution. Gives freedom of assembly, to picket, and to do things that are lawful, such that demonstrators do so unharmed. What has been happening since last year with the Gen Z protests has been entirely inconformity with the Constitution. Indeed, under Article 37 of the Constitution, these freedoms are guaranteed,” he said.
Furthermore, Kalonzo accused the current administration of using the state machinery against peaceful protesters.
“But what has been happening with the current administration is that they have come heavily against these young Kenyans, whose only demand is transparency in the way public affairs are conducted; they’ve been saying no to endemic corruption, and they have been met with police brute force organised by the state,” he said.
IPOA
This comes a day after the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) now says 65 people were killed during this year’s June and July protests.
According to the oversight body, one person was killed during the Albert Ojwang death protests, and 23 lost their lives during the June 25th anti-Finance Bill commemorative protests, while the bulk of the deaths happened during the Saba Saba protests, where 41 deaths have been reported so far. The deaths are spread across 18 counties.
The IPOA deaths tally mirrors the numbers issued by the Interior Ministry but contrasts those figures given by the KNCHR, another state outfit that puts the fatalities from Saba Saba at just over 60.
The IPOA report faults the police for not following the law by deploying uniformed and non-uniformed officers who failed to display name tags or service ranks during the Albert Ojwang murder protests.