As Kenyans prepare for Thursday June, 27 anti-government protests led by Generation Z (Gen Z), there are reports that demonstrators plan to march to State House.
Social media has seen a rallying cry under the hashtag #roadtostatehouse, urging protesters to take their demonstrations to the official residence of the President of Kenya.
State House, along with several other key locations in Kenya, is classified as a protected area under the Kenya Protected Areas Act.
This designation means that strict measures are in place to prevent unauthorized entry into such protected areas and ensure public safety and order.
State House & Other Protected Areas
According to the Act, protected areas in Kenya include State House, Nairobi; State House, Mombasa; State Lodge, Kisumu; State Lodge, Sagana, Nyeri; State Lodge, Eldoret; and State Lodge, Nakuru.
The list also covers Kenya Army headquarters and all other barracks across the country, Kenya Navy Headquarters and Mtongwe Jetty in Mombasa District, and Kenya Naval Base in Mombasa Mainland South.
Other protected areas are the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters on Milimani Road in Nairobi, all National Youth Service Camps, the Central Firearms Bureau on Ngong Road in Nairobi Area, and The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi.
Additionally, all police headquarters, motor transport workshops, training centers, dog sections, depots, and presidential escort sections feature in the list of protected areas.
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Laws Governing Protected Areas
The Act allows the Interior Cabinet Secretary to ensure special precautions are taken to prevent the entry of unauthorized persons into the listed areas.
“Where, in pursuance of section 3, any person is granted permission to be in a protected area, that person shall, while acting under such permission, comply with such directions for regulating his conduct as may be given by the prescribed authority or person granting the permission, or by the police officer in charge of the premises.”
Security officers are also authorized by the act to search people, vehicles, and containers entering or leaving protected areas.
“If any person is in a protected area in contravention of this Act, or, being lawfully in a protected area, fails to comply with any direction given under this Act, then, without prejudice to any proceedings which may be taken against him, he may be removed from the area by any police officer or any person authorized in that behalf by the prescribed authority,” the Act states.
Additionally, any person in a protected area who fails to stop after being challenged twice may be arrested.
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Penalties for Violation of the Act
Violating the regulations of the Protected Areas Act can result in severe penalties.
Any person who fails to comply with any direction given by the Protected Areas Act shall be guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding five thousand shillings, or to both such imprisonment and fine.
Furthermore, “Any person who has been detained as a result of the exercise of the powers conferred by section 5 and is found to have in his possession or to be conveying in any manner any arms, ammunition, explosives or stores, and who on being charged does not give an account to the satisfaction of the court that he came by them lawfully, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding ten thousand shillings.”
While the intention to march to State House during the protests is clear, the Protected Areas Act makes it extremely difficult to enter these premises without facing significant legal consequences.
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