We shall stand against the Chains of Tyranny, Reject the Kenyan Assembly and Demonstration Bill 2024
Statement from the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of Kenya
The Communist Party of Kenya unequivocally rejects the Kenyan Assembly and Demonstration Bill 2024, exposing it as a weapon of oppression aimed at silencing and endangering those who dare to resist. This bill’s attempt to ban demonstrators from wearing masks is a transparent tactic by the regime to strip the people of their privacy, effectively exposing them to state surveillance, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other forms of brutal retaliation. In demanding that protesters reveal their identities, the state shows a willingness to use fear and violence to suppress dissent rather than address the injustices that drive the people to the streets.
Moreover, the restriction of demonstrations to designated zones is a direct assault on the very purpose of protest: to disrupt the normal order and bring to light the state’s failures. By corralling resistance into isolated zones, the regime hopes to stifle the impact of the people’s voices, reducing their rightful demands to whispers behind invisible barricades.
This proposed law also mandates a 14-day notification period—a ludicrous requirement that ignores the urgency of public outcry in the face of ongoing abuses, such as the extrajudicial killings that have targeted innocent youth. The regime expects the people to sit idly by as injustice mounts, demanding patience when lives are lost and injustices unfold in real-time. By demanding this notification, the state seeks not only to stall, but to choke the people’s responses to its relentless violence and corruption.
Geoffrey Ruku, the sponsor of this bill, acts as a mere puppet of President Ruto’s fascist agenda, a rented hand aiming to shield the regime from the people’s growing anger. But we will not be misled; all our efforts must now focus on the man behind the scheme—William Ruto himself.
We call upon the Kenyan people to mobilize against this attack on our rights. Let this be the spark that ignites the second wave of the Gen Z uprising, a call to action against a state determined to rule by fear and repression. History has shown that no law, no threat, and no regime can hold back the march of a people determined to reclaim their dignity and freedom. Let us rise together for a Kenya free from tyranny.
Communist Party of Kenya - Central Organizing Committee