Former Premier Raila Amollo Odinga has finally broken his silence on the demonstrations scheduled for Wednesday 25 June 2025.
While addressing residents of Jomvu in Mombasa County when he laid the foundation stone for Maganda Early Childhood Development Center building, Raila said picketing was a right enshrined in the Constitution.
He, however, urged Kenyans who will be taking to the streets on Wednesday June 25, 2025, to do so peacefully and within the confines of the law.
“Article 37 of the Constitution guarantees Kenyans the right to assemble, demonstrate, and present petitions to authorities,” Raila said, adding “But this does not give anyone the right to engage in lawlessness or destroy public and private property.”
Addressing the youth-led Gen Z movement, which has called for countrywide demonstrations on Wednesday, Raila emphasized the importance of lawful and non-violent civic expression.
Speaking in Mombasa on Tuesday afternoon, the ODM leader warned that demonstrators could find themselves on the wrong side of the law if they resort to violence or destruction of property.
This was the first time the former Premier was addressing the planned protests, which is now a source of nationwide anxiety.
“Kenyans who are going to demonstrate tomorrow should follow the law and avoid actions that may put them at loggerheads with law enforcement officers,” he cautiously advised.
At the same time he took a swipe at the church for having a dead conscience and not addressing itself to the tensions between the youth and the government.
Raila’s comments came just hours after the Catholic Bishops of Kenya issued a strongly worded pastoral letter urging the government to listen to the concerns of young people rather than suppress them.
Meanwhile, the National Police Service in a press statement released early Tuesday night said the government will provide the necessary security for the protestors and watch out for infiltrators. It also guaranteed that its officers will exercise restraint and professionalism when dealing with the protestors.
The statement came just a short while in the heels of another statement issued by joint diplomatic corps. Diplomats from eleven countries including Britain and the United States of America had called for the police to guarantee the safety of protestors as Kenya is a nation known for strictly abiding by the rule of law.
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