Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has urged the government to fast-track the process of investigating and prosecuting all individuals involved in looting and violence during the protests on June 25.
Duale joined a string of leaders who condemned the unrest witnessed in several counties on Wednesday, in a day initially meant for demonstrations to commemorate those who died in similar protests a year to the date.
In his statement, Duale, who briefly served as the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Defence in Kenya, described Wednesday as a 'dark day' for Kenya, adding that several lines were crossed.
"The relevant authorities must swiftly bring to book anyone who participated in causing chaos and violence, looting shops and taking away the hard-earned money of Kenyans and destruction of property, including public buildings. The perpetrators must face the law; the red line was crossed!" Duale said.
He added, “What was supposed to be a day of peaceful protests left behind a trail of destruction,” said Duale. “We witnessed shocking cases of violence, looting, and destruction of public property, including government buildings.”
The June 25 protests witnessed numerous harrowing incidents of looting and property destruction across various counties, including several shops within the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD).
There were also cases of attacks on government infrastructure, including some police stations, which were torched and firearms stolen.
According to Duale, the incidents of destruction of property and looting are blatant crimes disguised as protests.
“One cannot hide behind the right to demonstrate while violating the rights of fellow citizens—by looting, raping, and destroying property,” he said. “This is not what the Constitution envisioned.”
The CS's comments come amid a heated national debate on the balance between the right to protest and the need to be lawful while doing so. The question of police conduct has also come to the forefront of the debate, particularly after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen encouraged police officers to use their firearms to defend themselves in extreme situations.
In his address after the June 25 protests, Murkomen claimed that the recent leniency of police officers towards criminals had emboldened them, saying, “they get released on small bond, return to fight police, and even mock them. This must come to an end."
He has since gone on a campaign to retract his words, claiming that they had been taken out of context.
