Nairobi — A tense calm prevailed Wednesday in Mlolongo - last week's epicenter of opposition-led anti-government protests - as Raila Odinga's Azimio Coalition readied for yet another showdown with the police.
Mlolongo area on the outskirts of the capital, just six miles from Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, grabbed national headlines on July 12 after a chaotic showdown that saw protesters the Nairobi Expressway vandalized.
The commotion spilled over to the neighboring Syokimau suburb before a specialized police unit arrived to quell the riot.
A quick spot-check in the neighborhood on Wednesday however revealed calm despite the conspicuous absence of Public Service Vehicles (PSV) along the busy Mombasa Road corridor which serves commuters from satellite towns within the larger Nairobi metropolitan area.
Images of abandoned roads marked a sharp contrast with parking yards at local fuel stations where PSVs laid abandoned.
"We did an early morning trip to the Central Business District before parking the bus," Reuben Mong'are, a steward working with Countylink sacco, a Mombasa Road-based operator told Capital News.
He added: "We do not anticipate any violence today but these is a precautionary measure"
Mong'are noted that passenger numbers had also declined sharply as commuters exercised caution following chaos witnessed on July 12.
Other local businesses however kept their doors open hoping to welcome clients even as malls in the area heighted vigilance.
At the Naivas Katani food market located in Syokimau, private guards conducted mandatory vehicle screening, a practice often disregarded in the past, as shoppers made their way into a basement parking facility in the building housing the food store.
Intensified security
"We're checking to verify than none of you is carrying rocks (stones) into the building," a security guard remarked.
At the mall, the presence of a police guard from the Administration Police was evident.
The situation was replicated across key shopping centres including the nearby Gateway Mall which also hosts a supermarket, a children's hospital and a bank.
Boda boda operators who spoke to Capital News corroborated reports of heavy police deployment Tuesday evening.
Opposition protests on July 12 saw widespread destruction of property with the Ministry of Transport reporting an estimated loss of Sh500 million due to vandalism on the Mlolongo-Syokimau section of the expressway.
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Rioters captured on surveillance footage brought down anti-trespass barricades along the road before demolishing flower pots strategically mounted along the toll road.
It took the intervention of a specialized anti-terrorism police unit to stop the protesters from advancing further on the road with human rights monitors reporting four death in the aftermath of the crackdown.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reported a total of nine deaths on Wednesday with five having been documented in Kitengela, Emali, Sondu, Migori and Busia.
KNCHR also reported "numerous injuries among members of the public and law enforcement officers."
The rights watchdog's call for accountability came even as President William Ruto's administration blamed Odinga for the chaos, announcing renewed measures to stop future riots.
Over 300 individuals were arrested in relation to vandalism with Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki announcing a radical plan to disarm bodyguards attacked to opposition figures participating in protests.
Kindiki's directive saw the police recall police officers assigned to Azimio leaders including Odinga, Martha Karua and Kalonzo Musyoka.
