Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has announced the start this Friday of a series of mobilizations against the government that will culminate next March 20 with the celebration of the »mother of all protests» despite warnings from the authorities to refrain from calling people to the streets and instead bet on a concerted dialogue in which to present their grievances about the outcome of the last elections.
The marches will start this Friday in Migori County, before continuing this weekend in the form of a »caravan» led by the Odinga-led Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition, which will visit Narok (on Saturday), Mombasa (on Sunday) and Kilifi (on Monday) before culminating in two Mondays in a grand march through the capital, Nairobi, according to the Kenyan daily ‘The Standard’.
On that day, in the mother of all protests, we have a date with destiny,» Odinga said.
The protests take place after the end of Odinga’s ultimatum to the country’s president, William Ruto, to whom he gave two weeks to present the data of the electoral servers during the elections of August last year.
The elections were finally settled by the country’s Supreme Court with a ruling unanimously backed by the seven judges that make up the court, but Odinga has categorically rejected the verdict and, over the months, has also accused Ruto of inability to contain the rise in prices and, as he recalled at the rally, of »suffocating all Kenyans with taxes».
At the end of last month, sources close to the Kenyan Government indicated to the newspaper ‘The Nation’ that the authorities are contemplating the possibility of starting a political operation to demand Western countries to sanction Odinga, as already proposed by Senator Samson Cheragei, who asked for the withdrawal of any international privilege that the former Prime Minister could still enjoy in view of his past position at the head of the Kenyan Government.
»’Tinga» (Odinga) should lose all the privileges he was granted locally and internationally given his former position as prime minister. The international community, as a rule, imposes restrictions on people who foment civil strife against legitimate governments,» he said.
Officially, the government has for the time being rejected any action against Odinga, according to Secretary of State for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Alfred Mutua. »The government does not have time to get entangled in Mr. Odinga’s endless political theater. We are not on a witch hunt. If he wants to demonstrate, let him do so,» he added to the Kenyan daily, before recalling that the authorities will punish any incitement to violence.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
