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– These are some important facts we believe that you should know about expected protests in the capital city of Nairobi, and other towns on Monday, May 23, 2016
Kenya’s opposition, the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord), has stated that it intends to press on with its protests against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Monday, May 23, 2016.
This will be the fourth time that Cord leaders will be leading their supporters to the streets in their bid to send home commissioners of the IEBC.
Cord principals Raila Odinga, Moses Wetangula and Kalonzo Musyoka will not lead the demonstrations, but ODM honchos Hassan Joho and James Orengo will be the face of the protests.
Demonstrations are expected to start at 9am, with protesters gathering at Uhuru Park before proceeding onto Anniversary Towers that houses the IEBC.
While Cord leaders have termed the protests as peaceful demonstrations, there are fears of violence breaking out after leaders from the government threatened to mobilise goons to counter any attacks on businesses or motorists.
Due to these concerns, Cord leaders led by Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama and his Orengo asked the police to protect them during the demonstrations.
Speaking at a press conference prior to the protests on Sunday, May 22, Muthama and Orengo asked the police to pick them at Uhuru Park before and accord them security as they march to IEBC offices.
“We contacted the police that three legislatures have procured young men from criminal gangs to infiltrate the demonstrations giving details on where the crude weapons have been kept, people involved in planning and how they plan to execute the chaos,” Orengo said during the press briefing.
pushing for the disbandment of the IEBC, and claim that the body as currently constituted cannot oversee a free and fair election in 2017.
Their claims are anchored on several reasons including what they are calling lack of fundamental reforms at IEBC, but the one claim that has jolted them into action was the agency’s verdict on Okoa Kenya Initiative.
Raila claims that the verdict that led to the collapse of the initiative was arrived at from a partisan view by IEBC, and that there was a likelihood that the commission would bungle the general election of 2017.
But IEBC has maintained that it has conducted itself professionally, and that disbanding the commission simply because politicians felt aggrieved was setting a wrong precedent.
Raila has sensationally claimed that IEBC is working with Jubilee government to rig the elections of 2017.
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