Police and the courts have been used by the government to oppress the public in realisation of the right to protest.
This is according Demas Kiprono, an advocate of the High Court and senior programmes officer at Article 19, an NGO that champions freedom of expression and information.
“A person who wants to hold a protest is required by law to notify the police. But police have been hindering this by saying no one should hold a protest without a valid permit that is issued by them and this should not be the case,” said Kiprono.
The lawyer said the right to protest is a fundamental right that is guaranteed in the constitution and also the United Nations declaration of human rights.
“Every person has the right to express his or her opinion. Article 37 and 33 of the constitution guarantees freedom of expression and opinion. So nobody is required to take you to court. But what is happening now is that police collaborate with courts to infringe this right whereby police deny or forcefully disrupt peaceful protests and arrest protesters,” he added.
While citing several cases, Kiprono noted that when taken to court, the arrested person(s) are charged with cooked and crooked charges and the magistrate imposes hefty fines and bonds which more often they are unable to pay hence end up in prison or remand.
“Article 19 is playing its role in the vetting of judges and magistrates in order to rid out those colluding with the government to oppress the wananchi and hinder the realisation of their rights,” Kiprono said.
At the same time, Patrick Mutahi also from Article 19 urged human rights defenders to monitor and document violations of rights to protest by authorities whenever such cases occur.
“Protests are not generally bad. They are good and have yielded positive results both at the social and political levels. For example, the Lang’ata pupils' protest on the alleged grabbing of the school's playground yielded results. The protests by women across the country against illicit brews have also yielded good results. All these protests have led to relevant authorities to take action in safeguarding the interests of the public,” Mutahi said.
The two were speaking on Wednesday in Nakuru during two-day training on the right to protest – Monitoring and Documentation that brought together human rights defenders from Nakuru and Narok counties.