Tuesday, May 2, 2023 – Azimio la Umoja Coalition Leader Raila Odinga declared that his mass demonstrations today will go on as planned and will kick off at exactly 6:00 am.
In a press briefing at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation yesterday, Raila gave his troops the final marching orders as he instructed his supporters to show up unarmed and deliver their petitions to the Kenya Kwanza administration.
He noted that the petitions, which would address different issues raised by the opposition, among them the high cost of living, would be delivered to the Office of the President and three others.
“We confirm that they are on tomorrow beginning at 6:00 am. As we stated, the Constitution provides that every person has the right, peacefully and unarmed, to assemble, demonstrate, picket and present petitions to public authorities.
“Our demonstrators tomorrow (today) have been informed that demos are going to be peaceful. No one is allowed to carry any weapon. Nobody should try to interfere with anybody’s private business. We are basically demonstrating to present our petitions to respective authorities,” he stated.
The ODM leader assured Kenyans that no businesses would be disrupted as the areas earmarked for demonstrations did not have business operations along the streets.
“Nobody should come up with an excuse that they will protect people’s property. They want to take this country to the days when people were not allowed to protest,” he added.
Raila also indicated that his procession would stick to the designated areas along the Central Business District (CBD) and not disrupt the day-to-day activities.
“Last time, we were barred from entering the CBD, we never chose to go to places like Mathare, Kibra, Kangemi, Pipeline and so on. We had applied to present our petition to the parties concerned,” he indicated.
This comes even as President William Ruto and his Deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, have already branded Raila’s demos as chaotic and deadly and vowed to deal with demonstrators ruthlessly.
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