Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei now says the opposition Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party’s notification of protests to be held next week in a letter addressed to his office was not properly done.
Azimio, through its Executive Council Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, on Wednesday notified Bungei of their intention to stage a peaceful procession on Monday and Thursday next week in Nairobi city.
Oparanya, in the letter, said their procession will take place on all major streets in the Nairobi Central Business District, thereby asking Bungei to deploy enough police officers for security.
Bungei, however said the notification letter was addressed to the wrong person.
He argued the Azimio team should instead have addressed and served the letter to the Officer Commanding the Police Station (OCS) of the area where they expect to stage their procession.
Bungei told the team to go ahead and follow due process and furnish the area police station chief who is the Nairobi Central Police Station OCS, with their letter of intention on time before staging the protests.
“We have procedures on how we serve the letters for protest or picketing, as guided by the law. Under Section 2 of the Public Order Act, it is indicated very clearly who is the regulating officer of the permits to be issued – it is the officer in charge of a police station. At this level of the mine, this is a regional command, whereby we dispense services to the police stations.”
“Therefore, in this matter related to the issue of protests, it has to be served to the police station. We are not saying that we refuse to pick or not, we are guided by the law that this document needs to be delivered Officer Commanding Police Station, in the area which the proposed procession would be held,” he said.
He added the Officer Commanding the Police Station in that area is the one to regulate the business of that procession. “
Therefore, I advise the team from Azimio to directly go and serve the Officer Commanding Police Station where they want to hold their procession or protest.”
He also absolved police officers of any blame as far as chaos witnessed during the Monday, March 20 protests go, saying they were only doing their job.
“It was an illegal demonstration, so the police had to do their work,” he stated.
This comes after Odinga on Tuesday vowed to take legal action against Bungei over the chaos and violence witnessed in the city on Monday during their anti-government protests.
More than 200 people were Monday arrested and presented in court Tuesday.
They were later released on Sh1,000 while others were given free bonds.
And following the new notification of the planned protests next Monday and Thursday, senior police officers met at the General Service Unit campus in Embakasi to discuss the way forward.
Another meeting is planned on Thursday at police headquarters, Jogoo House to discuss the same.
]The police bosses are hellbent on scuttling the planned protests called over among others the high cost of living.
Sources said they are under instructions not to allow the protests even if they have no such powers.
The law requires them to provide security once they are notified.
