Jubilee Party secretary general Jeremiah Kioni has called upon members of the Jubilee Party and supporters of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta to take part in subsequent anti-government protests.
Speaking on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Kioni insisted that the police cannot take away the right to peaceful protests from Kenyans.
“If we continue giving powers to the police officers through the back door to the point where they can stop you from airing your views when you want to…and these are the things we were taking away with our 2010 Constitution. Some members of parliament addressed a press conference yesterday and they threatened to invade the properties of Uhuru Kenyatta. As the secretary general of Jubilee, I want to say this is taken too far. This must be stopped by the police. The continued use of Uhuru as the scapegoat for all the problems we are facing in this country must also stop. We are also calling upon the supporters of Uhuru to also come out and state their position,” Kioni said.
Kioni on anti-government protests
The Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition, in which Jubilee Party is a member, has vowed to continue with anti-government protests every Monday and Thursday until the government gives in to their demands.
“We have served the letter for our demonstrations on Monday and Thursday. We are not doing this because we require a permit from police officers to hold demonstrations in this country. It is a right given to every Kenyan under the constitution,” he said.
On Tuesday, Azimio leader Raila Odinga announced that the anti-government protests would be held twice a week due to “public demand”.
“In response to public demand, we shall now hold protests every Thursday and Monday beginning next week,” Raila said.
The former prime minister has listed five reasons for the opposition’s calls for peaceful demonstrations, including the high cost of living, electoral injustice, nepotism in state appointments, the sacking of civil servants and defence for democracy.
