The police have a duty to obey the law and allow our peaceful demonstration
On Friday, September 11, 2009, in a flagrant abuse of the immense power the people of Kenya have given them, the police at Central Police Station refused to receive our re-notification for peaceful demonstrations on Monday, September 14, 2009. They insisted and continue to insist that they have banned the peaceful demonstrations for security reasons, which they do not specify. This is in spite of the fact they know that we are non-violent agitators for self-determination.
On Friday, September 11, 2009, in a flagrant abuse of the immense power the people of Kenya have given them, the police at Central Police Station refused to receive our re-notification for peaceful demonstrations on Monday, September 14, 2009. They insisted and continue to insist that they have banned the peaceful demonstrations for security reasons, which they do not specify. This is in spite of the fact they know that we are non-violent agitators for self-determination. In fact, to eliminate any doubts that during the demo we will be peaceful to the tinniest detail and won’t pose any security threat whatsoever, we volunteered to have the police handcuff us to each other, in a long human chain, for the duration of the procession. We are even ready to pay for a police band to lead us.
It is within our constitutional rights to hold the said procession. We will not give in to police oppression because Kenya is a democratic Republic not a police state. We are sovereign citizens not anybody’s subjects. Hence, nobody will deny us, or any other Kenyan, our residual sovereign right to exercise direct democracy, especially now that representation through both the Executive and the Legislature has failed us dismally.
The fact that the MPs, the Prime Minister, and the President are not representing our interests is borne out by the fact that they are gleefully implementing the neo-liberal agenda of dependency contained in the Kenya Vision 2030, yet what the country needs to deal with the many challenges facing us is a developmental state.
It is not beyond the failed authorities to allow Kenyans the democratic space to engage and surface issues on the all important political space on the Kenyan street. If we don’t push issues affecting ordinary Kenyans to the surface, our politics will inevitably remain personality driven, where we discuss self-seeking and visionless individuals, at the expense of the mind-boggling challenges we face as a country, and the good policies we need to solve them.
We state categorically that the People’s Government, which we represent here, does not want confrontation but collaboration with the Kenya Police. We recognise the vital role the police are supposed to play in the polity and we want them to equally recognise the role peaceful social movements like ours play in advancing democratic society. But the Police can only play their all important role if, doctrinally, they convert from being a REGIME POLICE into a STATE POLICE.
A regime police facilitates the oppression and exploitation of the people by illicit political and business interests. A state police on the other hand enforces the law of the land, bearing in mind constantly the concept of equality enshrined in the constitution and the basic tenet of the rule of law: ‘Be you ever so high, the law is above you’.
So tomorrow, Monday, at 10 am our representatives will march from the National Theatre to the Central Police Station, to re-notify the Police of our intended peaceful demonstration to petition President Mwai Kibaki, Premier Raila Odinga, and National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende against the irregular reappointment of Justice (Rtd) Aaron Ringera, to head the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission for another five year term, and his two deputies Dr. Smokin Wanjala and Ms Fatuma Sichale. We also intend to soon begin picketing Integrity Centre to block Justice Ringera, and his two deputies, access to the KACC offices.
Should the police insist on abusing their power, yet again, by purporting to ban the peaceful demo, or to interfere with the picketing, we will proceed to the law courts for protection, because the courts have the duty and the power to uphold the constitutional safeguards that protect individual rights.
In the spirit of Jamhuri Sasa!, our clarion call that Kenyans should demand the restoration of Republic of Kenya, where the rule of just law is the overriding imperative, we will not engage the police in a senseless street fight. Instead, we will file a public interest litigation challenging and seeking damages from the Central Police Station OCS Mureithi, the Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, the Internal Security Minister Prof. George Saitoti, and the Attorney General Amos Wako, for violating our constitutional rights.
Dated: Sunday, September 13, 2009
Okiya Omtatah Okoiti – Director