Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has revealed some of the charges that prosecutors will prefer against the 304 protestors who were arrested during the Azimio La Umoja anti-government demonstrations.
In a statement that was sent to the newsrooms, Professor Kindiki noted that the State would charge the protestors with robbery with violence which attracts a life sentence or the death penalty among other charges.
The State is exploiting Section 296(2) of the Penal Code which provides that in case of a conviction, the offender in a case of robbery with violence shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or death.
Kenyan Penal Code, however, defines robbery with violence as a robbery act that is committed while the offender is armed with any dangerous or offensive weapon or instrument, or is in the company of one or more other person or persons, or if, at or immediately after the time of the robbery, he wounds, beats, strikes or uses any other personal violence to any person.
The Law underscores that the death penalty is a very serious punishment, and it is only imposed in the most serious cases of robbery with violence.
The Cabinet Secretary for Interior also revealed that those who violated the Public Order Act and were caught looting premises would serve as an example to the rest of the criminals who would want to take advantage of the ongoing demonstrations to destabilise the country.
"Accordingly, 304 persons arrested yesterday across the country in connection with committing various crimes including looting, malicious damage of property, arson, robbery with violence, unlawful assembly, preparation to commit a felony, and destruction of buildings and infrastructure were arraigned in various courts in different regions as follows," read part of the statement by Professor Kindiki.
According to Kindiki, police officers managed to arrest 113 rioters in Nairobi, 61 in Rift Valley, 53 in Eastern parts of the country, 47 in Nyanza region, 20 at the Coast and 10 in Western Kenya.
At the same time, Kindiki stated that there were no arrests made in North Eastern and Central parts of the country, where he claimed that businesses went on as usual.
"Save for a few cases of looting and breach of the peace by small bands of marauding lawbreakers in a few places, normal daily activities went normally in most parts of the country.
"The public is hereby informed that the wave of hooliganism, disruption of order and lawlessness that began on Wednesday has been fully contained and the country has returned to normalcy," Kindiki noted.
Professor Kindiki assured that security personnel will continue to discharge their mandate of maintaining of law and order with the utmost professionalism, firmness and impartiality.
He advised the public and private sector workers, business people, travelers, and everyone to continue with their daily nation-building activities today and the days ahead, and leave the matter of their safety and security to the National Police Service and other security organs.
"While the ill-advised and unlawful outrage of crime has been thwarted and will not be allowed to re-emerge, security agencies remain fully engaged with the situation in the country and will build on the experience of the last two days to make sure that law enforcement achieves even better results tomorrow, in the wake of reports that organisers of the violent protests have incited the public to continue engaging in unlawful protests and violence tomorrow," Kindiki assured.
