PERSONAL: Kenyan activist calls for end to 'business as usual' as protests continue

Record ID: 1830068

  • Title: PERSONAL: Kenyan activist calls for end to 'business as usual' as protests continue
  • Date: 25th July 2024
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (JULY 25, 2024) (REUTERS) SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVIST, WANJIRA WANJIRU, MARCHING DOWN STREET HOLDING A CROSS WITH NAME OF A SLAIN PROTESTER IN ONE HAND, A ROSE IN THE OTHER, AND CHANTING (English) "Stop killing us!" PROTESTERS CHANGING, HOLDING ROSES AND CROSSES POLICE WRESTLING PROTESTERS TO THE GROUND POLICE THROWING PROTESTER IN THE BACK OF TRUCK / TEAR GAS C
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2024 14:04
  • Keywords: africa civil conflict east emerging government kenya lawmakers markets nairobi peace police politics president protest unrest war
  • Location: NAIROBI, KENYA
  • City: NAIROBI, KENYA
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
  • Reuters ID: LVA001176325072024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hours before joining a protest in Nairobi on Thursday (July 25), where several demonstrators were detained, Kenyan social justice activist Wanjira Wanjiru called for justice for those killed in recent anti-government demonstrations.
    "We will not allow that their death be in vain," Wanjiru told Reuters, before heading to central Nairobi. "We will not allow our country to ever go back to the realities that you cannot go out to protest for fear that a bullet may take your life."
    More than 50 people have been killed since mid-June, when protesters began taking to the streets to oppose tax increases proposed by President William Ruto, according to the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
    Wanjiru, a prominent social justice organizer emerging from Nairobi's impoverished Mathare neighborhood, represents a new wave of youth-led activism challenging Kenya's political establishment. The protest she attended saw police fire tear gas and live ammunition amid ongoing nationwide demonstrations against corruption and poor governance, with protesters calling for Ruto to step down.
    "It is important that we come out and show this solidarity to our Kenyan patriots and honour them and demand that their lives are honoured, that their families are compensated," Wanjiru said.
    The protests have continued despite President Ruto's withdrawal of the contested legislation and a cabinet reshuffle. Activists maintain calls for systemic changes to address corruption and governance issues at both national and county levels.
    At the Mathare Social Justice Centre, where Wanjiru and fellow activists gathered before the protest, she emphasized the urgency of their cause. "The president is doing everything in his capability to take this country backwards. This is why we cannot afford to give him more time," she said.
    Wanjiru and other activists are angered by Ruto’s nominations to a new cabinet. Most are holdovers from the previous government and some are members of the main opposition party, which the protesters have also condemned as corrupt.
    Ruto says the new cabinet reflects national unity and will address the demands of the protest movement. He has promised to investigate alleged abuses by the police during demonstrations but has broadly defended their conduct.
    As she marched holding a cross bearing the name of a slain protester and chanting "Stop killing us!", Wanjiru embodied the defiance that has characterized these demonstrations.
    "When we lose our fear, they lose their power, and all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya," she declared, fist in the air.
    (Production: Nelson Aruya, Edwin Waita, Cooper Inveen)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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