President William Ruto appears to have loosened his stance on crashing anti-government protesters, now calling for a "candid conversation on demonstrations".
Speaking in Homa Bay on Saturday, July 15, while gracing the homecoming fete of Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo, the president said he acknowledged the constitutional right to picket but called out the opposition for leveraging it to abet violence.
"We know our friends have planned their demonstrations. I want to say that is it okay because we have a constitution that gives everybody rights. But we are going to have a conversation as a nation about demonstrations. We must have a candid conversation about what amounts to demonstrations," said Ruto.
The president sought to know the link between the constitutional right and chaos that rocked parts of the country last week during the protests.
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"We cannot use the excuse of demonstrations to destroy property; public or private. That is not what the constitution envisaged," he said.
Ruto accused the opposition of its supposed commitment to derail the government from undertaking its mandate, saying he would soldier on unperturbed.
His tone appeared to have deviated from a strong one that he used while vowing to end the protests once and for all.
Homa Bay is one of Raila Odinga's political backyards.
Ruto while speaking in Nakuru vowed the government will not allow Azimio demos to happen again in the country.
He stressed that the planned Azimio protests scheduled for next week will not take place.
"There will be no more demonstrations in this country. I want to tell Raila Odinga, mimi niko na wewe macho kwa macho, tutakutana," he declared.
The Head of State vowed to deal with Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga head-on if he goes for the anti-government demonstrations again.
Ruto urged Raila to wait for the 2027 general election if he wants to have power.
“I want to tell him that if it's protesting, we will meet because you cannot use extrajudicial and extraconstitutional means to look for power in Kenya. There is a constitution, the people of Kenya went to an election and they elected a government. If you want power, wait for 2027 and I will beat you again,” Ruto added.
His remarks came hours after the Azimio la Umoja coalition announced it will be holding three-day anti-government protests starting from next week Wednesday.
Azimio in a statement said the decision was arrived at following requests from all sectors across the country.
“Third Wave of peaceful protests scheduled to start on Wednesday next week, and following overwhelming requests from all sectors of the Kenyan Public for the need to intensify these demonstrations, the Coalition hereby wishes to announce a revision of the calendar.
“Going forward, the peaceful protests will now be held on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday next week, in line with requests from the public to include three days of activity,” Azimio announced.
