Kenyan police used tear gas to quell anti-corruption protesters when hundreds matched to the streets complaining about unfulfilled Govt promises and failure to tackle corruption.
Thousands of Kenyans are expected to take to the streets against economic misery in the latest challenge to President Uhuru Kenyatta amid months of political debate over corruption.
The anti-corruption march which in Nairobi aims at piling pressure on President Uhuru Kenyatta to sack those in the public service implicated in graft.
A protest against corruption in Kenya by a group calling itself the #RedVests happening now at Freedom corner in Nairobi.They are also complaining about unfulfilled Govt. promises. They hope to march to the Supreme court & Parliament. pic.twitter.com/GGoelbKEPV— Waihiga Mwaura 🇰🇪 (@WaihigaMwaura) April 30, 2019
The march by “Kenyans of goodwill” dubbed ‘Redvest’ will start at 10 am at Freedom Corner. The protesters will be wearing red clothes.
There has been rising anger over the long-running corruption cases in the private and public sector that suspects are yet to be charged.
A poster says that Kenyans will be protesting against economic sabotage, excessive taxation and the planned 1.5 per cent housing levy.
The other concerns are land grabbing by the elite and Huduma Namba which has been dismissed as “colonial kipande system”.
“Are you ready to stand up? Power to you,” one of their poster reads.
Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto are mocked in the posters as the face of corruption.
Police lob teargas canisters at peaceful demonstrators at the Freedom Corner, Uhuru Park in the #BeyondZeroCorruption Peoples March @SimekhaJME @HakiKNCHR @KIOSFoundation @OpenSociety @AfricanLawyers @NubianRights @Pawa254 pic.twitter.com/JgGYg3itrv— InformAction (@InformAction_KE) April 30, 2019
The peaceful protest has however been challenged by the police after some aggressive protesters began clashing with police. In response, riot police reportedly fired tear gas into the crowd at Uhuru Park.
Kenyans are worried over the massive looting of billions of shillings have in mega corruption scandals in government.
Some Sh1.9 billion is suspected to have been lost at National Cereals and Produce Board. The money was to pay farmers.
At the National Youth Service, Sh791 million meant for youth empowerment programmes was lost in 2015. Another Sh9 billion is said to have been lost last year
Currently the dam scandal that is alleged to have had kickbacks where more than Sh 21 billion remains questionable.