Nairobi — The High Court will at 3pm deliver a ruling on whether to suspend the deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) as part of reinforcement plans to neutralize chaotic scenes during the anti-Finance bill demonstrations.
Highcourt Judge Lawrence Mugambi will make the ruling after hearing the parties in the case filed by Law Society of Kenya (LSK) seeking to block the deployment of the military to assist the police.
LSK, through its president Faith Odhiambo argued that the deployment of KDF in town is unconstitutional insisting the procedure undertaken for approval was merely cosmetic.
The LSK President told the court the gazette notice should have been given 24 hours after parliament approval.
"What we are seeing is parliament and the executive treating us to a circus to cover up.We have never seen a scenario such as this since the 1982 coup,"she said.
On Tuesday night, Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale issued a Gazette Notice authorizing the deployment of the military, as police appeared overwhelmed in many parts of the country, particularly in Nairobi. Protesters had stormed Parliament following the bill's passage.
"The Kenya Defence Forces is deployed on June 25, 2024, in support of the National Police Service in response to the security emergency caused by ongoing violent protests in various parts of the country, resulting in the destruction and breaching of critical infrastructure," Duale stated.
Odhiambo poked holes on the gazette notice issued by CS Duale saying no state emergency had been declared or parameters indicated on the notice in regards to timelines of KDF operations in the protests.
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"The military are there to put fear and intimidate the people of Kenya and frustrate the citizens to exercise their rights and they are still on streets to date,"she argued.
The Ministry of Defence through their counsel, argued termed chaos that has characterized the anti-finance bill demonstrations is a situation of emergency which warrant the reinforcement of KDF deployment.
"We are having a state of emergency and this kind of deployment have been done before .The situation falls squarely in a situation of emergency,"the counsel said.
The Office of the Attorney General urged the court to thrawt the pleas by the LSK pointing out that the government has followed the constitution and the respondents has no given evidence to support their argument.
LSK argues that there was nothing in the protests that would have been deemed as an emergency to warrant Military involvement. However, according to CS Duale, the Tuesday protests were akin to security emergency following invasion of key arms of government including Parliament.
The chaotic scenes unfolded as police struggled to disperse rioters who stormed Parliament. The confrontations were marked by live bullets and tear gas moments after Members of Parliament approved the bill. Several protesters sustained serious bullet wounds during the clashes
Among critical infrastructure affected include the Supreme Court and City Hall- the Nairobi County Headquarters which was also set ablaze by protesters.
