CORD threatens to go to ICC over killing of protesters as gov’t bans demos

The Government has banned all violent demonstrations in the country saying lives have been lost, businesses looted and property worth millions of shillings destroyed in the recent past.

Declaring the ban, Interior Cabinet secretary Major Gen. (Rtd.) Joseph Nkaissery said that the government will not condone further demonstrations that may lead to destruction of property and destabilization of the country.

The blanket ban on demonstrations come in the wake of death and injuries during the recent Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) protests calling for the disbandment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Nkaissery said the ban was informed by a section of the demonstrators move to carry crude weapons despite the opposition CORD promising that the protests would be peaceful.

The CS, who was accompanied by Attorney General Githu Muigai and Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett during a press briefing at Harambee House, said the government will not tolerate cases of indiscipline on the part of CORD and its supporters.

On his part, AG Muigai said that despite the court allowing CORD to hold a peaceful march, things turned ugly when demonstrators started engaging in violent activities.

He said that the court cannot allow, at any given time, chaotic and violent protests that lead to loss of lives and destruction of property.

But in a quick rejoinder, CORD has vowed to defy the government order saying the anti-IEBC protests will continue as scheduled as they were already allowed by court to peacefully demonstrate.

The opposition coalition says it plans to raise its protests to every Monday and Thursday beginning next week. CORD says it is also considering inviting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the government and the police over the shooting of demonstrators in anti-IEBC protests.

The head of CORD Secretariat Norman Magaya dared Nkaiserry to effect the ban and warned that the coalition will hold the him personally liable should anything happen to the protesters next week.

The opposition has dismissed Nkaissery’s orders as arbitrary and unconstitutional and maintained that street demos are not state privilege but a guarantee in the Constitution.

Additional reporting by Sam Ogina