A multi-agency security team from various police units has been deployed in various parts of Nairobi in anticipation of the youth-led protests set to take place on Thursday.
The demonstrators have vowed to stage a daring march to State House as the climax of a seven-day protest to express their anger and dissatisfaction with the current government of President William Ruto.
After the deadly rallies witnessed on Tuesday when the protestors invaded Parliament in protest of the Finance Bill 2024, security teams appear determined to thwart any attempt to access the House on the Hill. Elite security teams have sealed off all roads leading to and connecting to State House, with motorists being diverted to use alternative routes.
Heavily armed officers have also been strategically placed near State House with no one allowed to even approach any of the entrances. Military security equipment has also been deployed near State House to barricade the roads near State House.
Despite President William Ruto conceding and accepting to withdraw the contentious Bill, the protesters have vowed to continue with the rallies in a show of no-confidence with the Kenya Kwanza government. The plan by the protesters to march to State House has been met with mixed opinion with fears of loss of lives.
Addressing a shocked nation on Wednesday afternoon, Ruto said he would not sign the bill, and “it shall subsequently be withdrawn”. “The people have spoken,” he said, adding that he would seek “engagement with the young people of our nation.” It was a marked shift from his tough-talking late-night address Tuesday when he likened some of the demonstrators to “criminals”
However, prominent protesters dismissed his comments, with one, Hanifa Adan, labelling it a “PR” move after the violence at rallies earlier in the week. Adan said earlier that protesters would “march peacefully again as we wear white, for all our fallen people”, with some supporters planning to bring flowers in memory of the dead.”You cannot kill all of us,” she said on X.
