Kenya: Opposition Leader Raila Odinga Suspends Anti-Government Protests

Facts

• Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Sunday evening called off a fourth anti-government rally in protest against soaring living costs and alleged election fraud, which had been scheduled for Monday.¹
• The news came as President William Ruto urged that demonstrations be suspended — Odinga has stressed that protests would restart within a week if no significant progress is made in engagement.²
• Following the announcement that dialogue was set to take place between Kenya's rival politicians, charges against four opposition MPs, who had been arrested for unlawful assembly weeks ago as thousands took to the streets, were dropped.³
• Protests in Kenya — which have reportedly claimed the lives of three people since breaking out on March 20 — have alarmed neighbors and allies of the once stable democracy in the volatile East Africa region.⁴
• Odinga has encouraged bi-weekly demonstrations since the protests began, aimed at pressing the government to approve an audit of last year's presidential election outcome to try and prove he won. Kenya's Supreme Court has already rejected Odinga's attempt to overturn the results.⁵
• Religious groups have urged the government and its opposition to engage in dialogue to prevent Kenya from descending into post-election violence like that which killed over 1.2K people in 2007.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Voa, ³BBC News, ⁴Africanews, ⁵Bloomberg and ⁶Abc news.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Gzero media. Despite the Kenyan people taking to the streets to protest the rising cost of living, political leaders have been deepening rifts for their own interests. Once again, Odinga is pushing the country toward instability for the selfish goal of having his political influence recognized, while Pres. Ruto cracks down on demonstrators to consolidate his power.
• Narrative B, as provided by Nation. The right to protest is indeed enshrined in Kenya's constitution, but violent demonstrations are no solution to the local effects of the global economic meltdown — they can only aggravate the situation. It is about time politicians start working to build a prosperous and peaceful country.

Predictions