John Ngirachu And Mwakera Mwajefa
4 July 2008
Nairobi — An attempt by University of Nairobi students and members of civil societies to march from Parliament to Finance minister Amos Kimunya's office was thwarted when police fired tear gas and arrested two of the protesters.
The protesters, among them playwright Okiya Omtatah, Bunge la Wananchi speaker Fredrick Odhiambo and university lecturer Tom Namwambah, had gathered outside Parliament yesterday at 11am. They were preparing to march to Treasury Building when police from Parliament Police Post and their Administration police counterparts moved in.
MPs Cyrus Jirongo and Kiema Kilonzo, made an unsuccessful attempt to free one of the protesters. The MPs had earlier called for a news conference in Parliament and emerged when the protest started.
There was drama a few metres from the police post when one officer dropped his gun's magazine, the bullets spilled and other officers hastily picked them up.
The MPs were later joined by colleagues Ababu Namwamba (Budalang'i), Joshua Kutuny (Cherangany), Wilson Litole (Sigor) and Edwin Yinda (Alego-Usonga).
Held a meeting
Their attempts to free the two at the police post were unsuccessful, and they were later referred to Central Police Station.
The MPs then led the crowd to the station in a demonstration through city streets to the police station. There they held a meeting with Central police chief Tito Kilonzi and Nairobi Area police boss Julius Ndegwa.
The MPs vowed to hold a similar protest on Tuesday if Mr Kimunya will not have left office.
And police in Mombasa Thursday stopped a handful of demonstrators protesting against the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel from accessing Treasury Square from Nkrumah Road.
Trouble started when area head of police Patrick Wafula intercepted the chanting mob at Mwenye Aboud Road and told them to go to Makadara grounds.
However, the demonstrators led by the Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri) programmes coordinator Khalid Hussein stood its ground and used the ACK Cathedral lane to reach the square.
They burnt Mr Kimunya's effigy outside the district commissioner's office before going to Muhuri's offices 50 metres away.
Youth Agenda for Peace coordinator Evans Gachie said the President had 12 hours to sack Mr Kimunya and his cohorts in the "grand corruption scam".
"Failure to act on our demands, we will travel to Nairobi and remove him from the Treasury," he said.
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