Gitobu Imanyara
Veteran lawyer and human rights defender Gitobu Imanyara has proposed four reforms to address the crisis in Kenya following the violent Saba Saba protests.
In a statement on Tuesday, Imanyara proposed that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) opens files on every death of a protester since 2017.
“The Director of Public Prosecutions must open homicide files on every protest death since 2017, beginning with Msando and advancing to the present. Command responsibility must reach Cabinet level,” he proposed.
The lawyer also said the Treasury must release all pending court-awarded damages to torture survivors and families of extrajudicial victims within the current fiscal year.
Imanyara proposed that Parliament restore funding to IPOA and summons the Interior CS to answer questions over the death of protestors.
“Parliament must restore funding to IPOA and enact standing-order changes that compel the Interior Cabinet Secretary to appear for questioning within forty-eight hours of any protest-related fatality,” the lawyer stated.
The human rights defender further proposed that Ksh20 billion earmarked for vanity projects, including the proposed State House cathedral turned into an emergency youth enterprise fund administered transparently by county structures.
“These measures require no conclave, no referendum, no plenary at a resort. They require political will and the integrity to subordinate personal ambition to the common good, precisely what Saba Saba demanded of us then and now,” he added.
At the same time, Imanyara slammed ODM leader Raila Odinga following his statement on Saba Saba.
He accused Raila of diluting the ongoing struggle for justice by calling for a “national intergenerational conclave” instead of demanding accountability.
“Saba Saba was never a branding exercise. It was an act of organised defiance against lethal state violence. What defined the day was not the fame of its conveners but the courage of ordinary Kenyans who faced dogs, batons, and live rounds armed only with hope. Their descendants are the Gen Z demonstrators filling our streets today,” said Imanyara.
The lawyer further criticized Raila’s proposal to have another referendum after a national dialogue.
“Raila proposes that the conclusions of his proposed dialogue be taken to a referendum. Before we plunge the nation into another expensive plebiscite, let us complete the devolution, judicial reform, and public-finance guarantees that Kenyans already ratified in 2010,” Imanyara remarked.
