I have lived in a dictatorship before, I fear for Kenya - Raila Odinga

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga now claims the country is slowly heading back to the dark days of dictatorship under the current regime headed by President William Ruto.

Odinga spoke on Tuesday when he met the International Press Association of East Africa (IPAEA), saying that the Kenya Kwanza government has allowed the country’s security forces to run amok and commit unspeakable crimes against civilians, reminiscent of cruel administrations of yester years.

The opposition chief said the consistent anti-government protests against heavy taxation and the high cost of living have revealed the dark sides of the police service, whom he accused of ethnic profiling, brutality and extrajudicial killings.

“We will talk about a problem we never anticipated; the unprecedented horrors of police brutality against protesters. With constitutional guarantee for protests, we never imagined that police would outlaw protests, confront protestors and kill so many as is the case now. We never expected the State-sponsored genocide that is taking place,” he said.

“The response by the State to the protests has given way to something that now looks even more ominous than the high cost of living that the protests were initially about. We are witnessing unprecedented police brutality. We are also witnessing an unprecedented phenomenon of the State resorting to armed militia to quell protests.”

Odinga went ahead to state that the opposition has now embarked on a move aimed at collecting more evidence against the alleged atrocities being committed by the police against its supporters, especially in Kisumu County and the slum areas of Nairobi.

The former premiere also criticised attacks against the person of former President Uhuru Kenyatta by senior government officials, as well as the withdrawal of security attached to his mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta and the recent attempted raid on his son Jomo’s home by men in civilian clothing claiming to be police officers.

“These developments are alien to this country. As a country, we adopted the unwritten rule that for the sake of stability and dignity of our nation, we shall as much as possible let retired presidents live in peace,” said the Azimio leader.

“We left President Moi and President Kibaki in peace. We appreciate the good they did and learn from their mistakes. This is pretty much the case in virtually all countries unless a retired president is actively involved in undermining the state.”

He added: “The developments here are therefore very worrying. I fear for my country. I have lived in a dictatorship before. I fear a new dictatorship is taking roots here and our work is cut out for us.”