Former Lagdera MP Farah Maalim in a past scene. He has defended the planned parallel prayer rally by Nasa at the Jacaranda grounds Tuesday. (the star)
Former Lagdera MP Farah Maalim has defended the planned National Super Alliance (Nasa) rally at the Jacaranda grounds on Tuesday, saying it is meant to mourn victims of police brutality and not to stoke confrontations with the police.
Speaking during a breakfast show on NTV on Monday, the former National Assembly deputy speaker said the rally which will coincide with President Uhuru Kenyatta's swearing-in ceremony is a way of showing solidarity with Kenyans who have lost their loved ones during the political hiatus that the country has gone through lately.
"I can understand why Nasa arrived at the decision to hold a prayer rally during the swearing-in ceremony. It is a way of saying," you celebrate, we are mourning, we feel for the Kenyans who lost their lives", he said.
There have been calls for Nasa to shelve the planned rally by a section of Kenyans who feel that the timing is wrong even as a section of Nasa leaders led by Amani National Congress (ANC) leader maintained that the planned rally will go on.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has equally invited Nasa leader Raila Odinga during his swearing-in ceremony saying that it is time to heal the country which is sharply divided by the political events after the August 8 polls.