The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has condemned the deployment of police officers by the Nairobi Region Police Commander, Adamson Bungei aimed at interfering with the peaceful protests organized by Kenyans outside Parliament over the Finance Bill.
In a statement made on X, LSK president, Faith Odhiambo termed this move as an “outright contempt of the constitution” and warned that this infringement of protestor rights was an affront to the rule of law.
“It has been brought to the attention of the Law Society of Kenya that the Nairobi Region Police Commander has instructed officers under his command to interfere with the peaceful protests organized by Kenyans outside Parliament Buildings today over the Finance Bill.”
“We condemn the outright contempt by the police for the Constitution and the people of Kenya. The running battles and use of teargas on protestors that we have seen images of this morning are a despicable affront to the rule of law,” said Faith Odhiambo.
Odhiambo expressed shock that Mr. Adamson Bungei, on his own initiative, had chosen to ignore the notification of the protest from the organizers under the pretext of a lack of form.
LSK Warns Against Police Aggression on Protesters
She warned Bungei and all officers acting under his command not to take any aggressive action against the protesters in the name of enforcing what the society termed as an “unlawful, unreasonable, and irrational directive.”
Additionally, LSK noted that the form for a Notification under the Public Order Act requires only basic information about the applicant, date, time, and place of the protest.
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“The alleged discretion to invalidate a notification for want of meeting a self-determined threshold is a nullity, and any acts done on account thereof are an illegality,” noted LSK.
To this effect, LSK has demanded that Bungei immediately call off his directive and instruct his officers to stand down from making any arbitrary arrests or using violence against the protesters.
“We demand that Mr. Bungei calls off his directive immediately and instructs his officers to stand down from making any arbitrary arrest or meting violence against the protestors.”
Furthermore, the society warned that it would closely monitor today’s events and would take legal action on Bungei or any officer under his instruction who violates the rights of the protesters.
“We are closely monitoring today’s events and will take legal action to find Mr. Bungei and any officer who violates the rights of the protestors on account of his instructions personally liable for any breaches of the Constitution and the National Police Service Act.”
Andamson Bungei Dismisses the Planned Protest
This development follows an earlier remark made by the police boss where he dismissed any plan to organize protests in Nairobi today, June 18.
Speaking to the press, Bungei confirmed that no one applied for a gathering or picketing permit as was expected under the law.
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He explained they had received a ‘faulty’ document dated June last year which he says doesn’t meet the protest permission threshold.
“We have heightened our patrols within the CBD to ensure there is no disruption of businesses. No body applied for any license or permit to do the protests.”
“We will not allow them anywhere near there. Let them stay away,” said Bungei.
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