Police have cancelled with immediate effect all political rallies and processions until further notice.
Inspector General David Kimaiyo said Tuesday the ban is in line with the Public Order Act, chapter 56 Laws of Kenya.
Announcing through his twitter account Mr Kimaiyo said: “I have cancelled all political parties rallies until further notice due to security reasons.”
“Criminals may take advantage of such gatherings,” he says.
The Public Order Act regulates public gatherings and states in the first subsection that ‘No person shall hold a public meeting or a public procession except in accordance with the provisions of this section.’
The IG’s directives come in the wake of Cord’s rallies in the city that have been preparing their supporters to welcome their coalition leader Raila Odinga on Saturday.
The former Prime Minister was scheduled to address a rally at the KICC grounds on arrival.
On his part, the former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka was set to address a political rally in Mathare on Wednesday to drum up support for the opposition candidate in the coming by-election.
‘RALLIES WILL GO ON’
Cord has said the scheduled rallies will go on as planned, terming the ban as a cowardly act by the government.
Addressing a press conference outside the IG’s office in Nairobi soon after Mr Kimaiyo’s order, Siaya Senator James Orengo said the ban was an attempt by government to introduce dictatorship similar to what happened in the 1990s.
Former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Farah Maalim said they would hold a rally at Uhuru Park on Saturday, since they had been told that the planned Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) venue had already been booked.
The press briefing was also attended by Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula.
-nation.co.ke
