By Patricia Mollyne Mataga
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has threatened to take legal action against police bosses in Nairobi.
This is in relation to the manner in which they handled anti-Finance Bill 2024 protests on Tuesday.
LSK in a statement said the police acted irregularly by declaring the protests which were organized by human rights activists as illegal.
Tens of Kenyans took to the streets to express their displeasure over tax proposals in the Bill set to be debated in Parliament starting Wednesday.
However, some of them ended up in police cells after the Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei said no one had been given a permit to protest.
In a letter shared on their social media pages, LSK said the police have no power to stop a Kenyan from peacefully protesting.
“Article 37 of the Constitution of Kenya provides for the right to assembly and demonstrate and it has no provision for notice to be given to you not can you limit anyone’s right outside what is provided for under Article 24 of the Constitution,” LSK said in a letter to Bungei.
“Your action would therefore be construed to amount to suspension of Articles 19 and 37 of the Constitution, which actions are unconstitutional,” it added.
The association went further to warn that based on the police insistence of the protests being illegal, they might be forced to initiate court proceedings against the Nairobi police boss “based on the doctrine of command responsibility.”
LSK hinted that in their suit, they will seek orders to hold Bungei personally liable for harm caused by police to the protesters.
There were a few instances where police reportedly threw out a journalist from their vehicle after he was briefly arrested.
Several other protesters were arrested and will be spending a night in the police cells.
Opposition leaders led by Embakasi East MP Babu Owino had earlier demanded that all those arrested be released unconditionally.
The protests went on as planned despite the government dropping some of the controversial tax proposals that had sparked outrage from Kenyans.