State issues ultimatum to Gachagua for Kamukunji rally to proceed

Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua will only be allowed to hold his planned meeting at the Kamukunji grounds on Thursday if he or his party has made the requisite notifications to the police for adequate security deployment.

This is according to Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, who maintains that the government will not allow unsanctioned public rallies to disrupt peace and business in Nairobi during Gachagua’s planned return.

“If they have given the notification, we have absolutely no issue with any person, political party, or any politician calling for a meeting. They just need to give the notification, and they must ensure their meeting is peaceful and does not lead to situations of disrupting the peace for others or burning of property or looting or violence,” said Murkomen said in Nyandarua.

“If you burn a police station, you burn government cars, whether county or national, you burn a police office, you burn somebody’s supermarket—there is no other charge we can bring before the court. The best charge is those related to terror because that is exactly what you’re doing.”

The Interior CS also defended the move by the government to prefer terrorism charges against suspects of arson on government property, as well as those arrested on allegations of looting businesses during demonstrations.

Murkomen's remarks follow a similar warning by the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, who downplayed Gachagua’s much-publicised return from the United States, describing it as an “ordinary” affair.

IG Kanja emphasised that the National Police Service is fully in charge of security arrangements and expects “normalcy” during Gachagua’s landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Thursday.

CS Murkomen had already cautioned Gachagua and his supporters against disrupting public order, warning that intelligence reports indicated a planned chaos during his arrival.

He indicated that the government was prepared to take legal action should the DCP mobilisation—which calls for over one million supporters to throng JKIA—degenerate into lawlessness.

“The last time he was around, there were disruptions in the name of protests. We are prepared, and the National Police Service will protect citizens and their property,” Murkomen said in Murang’a County during the 30th Jukwaa la Usalama forum on Tuesday.