Azimio la Umoja Coalition has announced three days of protests from Wednesday to Friday next week.
The coalition which had planned to hold the anti-government demos only on Wednesday, said it was forced to make the changes in response to what it described as overwhelming requests from Kenyans.
“Further to the communication issued yesterday on the Third Wave of peaceful protests scheduled to start on Wednesday next week, and following overwhelming requests from all sectors of the Kenyan Public for the need to intensify these demonstrations, the Coalition hereby wishes to announce a revision of the calendar,” said Azimio in a statement sent to the newsrooms Friday afternoon.
“Going forward, the peaceful protests will now be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week, in line with requests from the public to include three days of activity. Let’s meet on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday” it stated.
Addressing the media on Thursday evening, the opposition outfit also announced five days of mourning for protesters who lost their lives on Wednesday.
Azimio has called for protests to force the government to review the Finance Act 2023 with the launch of a public portal in its attempt to hit the 15 Million signatures.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga said the coalition is keen on forcing the executive to abide by the rule of law through the signature drive.
So far, 1.2 million have been collected even as the opposition rallied Kenyans for demonstrations planned for Wednesday.
During the launch of the website www.tumechoka.com, Raila said it’s only through unity of purpose that the government can start listening to Kenyans’ grievances.
“The digital platform we have unveiled is complementary to all other efforts and platforms including civil disobedience, tax boycotts and defiance that are meant to compel the regime to repeal the Finance Act 2023 and take deliberate steps to lower the cost of living,” said Raila.
The decision was necessitated by the government’s failure to address the opposition’s grievances including punitive taxes, high cost of living, electoral fraud, and biased recruitment of electoral commissioners.
