- A number of long distance public transport vehicles that operate along Taveta Road could be seen leaving in a huff.
- Planners of the Occupy Parliament protests announced last week that they would on Thursday march to State House.
Image: DANVICTOR MURIITHI
A tense atmosphere is slowly building up in Nairobi’s Central Business District as the number of protesters rises by the minute amid a heavy police and KDF presence on the streets.
Pockets of demonstrators have regrouped at road intersections after being dispersed earlier in the day and are now sizing up security personnel and taunting them to bring it on.
A number of long distance public transport vehicles that operate along Taveta Road could be seen leaving in a huff as business owners watched from a distance a group of rioters barricading River Road.
“Hiyo kitu wameanza ni ujinga sasa ni heri tu nirudi nyumbani kabla kanuke,” a young male passenger in a matatu plying the Nairobi-Kangemi route said.
(What they have started is senseless I prefer going back home)
The young man was speaking on the phone to an associate in Kangemi who had called to enquire about the state of affairs in the CBD before he left to join the protests.
“Nyinyi kama mnateremuka kujeni tu but mimi narudi home man (If you have decided to come it’s okay but I’m going back home,” he said before he dropped the call.
Planners of the Occupy Parliament protests announced last week that they would on Thursday march to State House.
Their plans were, however, thrown into disarray after President William Ruto on Wednesday declined to sign the contentious Finance Bill, 2024 and wrote to Parliament asking MPs to delete all clauses.
It was largely expected that with the new development, the protesters would hold their horses and call off the march.
But Wednesday night, planners of the civil disobedience comprising mostly influential Gen Z social media users were sharply divided on whether or not the demos should proceed as planned.
Whilst some were against the idea of marching to State House, others averred that stopping the march would be counterproductive and a betrayal to their already dead comrades “who died in the line of duty”.
“If we relent even for a single minute my brothers and sisters, we will pay a heavy price because we will never have any other opportunity at all of regrouping, so let’s do it,” one said during a well-attended Space on X, formerly Twitter.
But activist Boniface Mwangi disagreed with the idea of marching to State House and asked protesters to stick to the initial plan of occupying Parliament.
“Ignore those bringing confusion, and most importantly telling you to Occupy State House. See you at Parliament,” Mwangi, a self-proclaimed People’s Watchman said on X Thursday morning.
Robert Alai, the Kileleshwa MCA, also discouraged protesters from stretching their luck and entertaining the idea of storming the State House.
“Whoever is now mobilising young people for further protests is killing their legitimacy and destroying them so that they will not be taken seriously again. Don’t go to State House. If possible, don’t protest today,” he said on X.
Hanifa Farsafi, one of the other outspoken anti-tax protesters, also urged the youth not to dare march to State House.
“I’m not telling you all what to do. I’m just begging and if you must go, please avoid the protected area. We have lost enough lives. They don’t care, they just shoot. It’s not over. It’s not over yet,” she said.