By OTIENO OTIENO

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Kenyan MPs have started debating a controversial Bill that restricts citizens’ right to assembly in the wake of the recent wave of youth-led anti-government protests, which saw parliament overrun by protesters.

The Bill introduced in the House by Geoffrey Ruku, an MP belonging to President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Coalition, gives the police sweeping powers to ban or break up demonstrations and picketing and imposes harsh fines or a jail term for offending demonstrators.

It also makes it much harder to organise or stage demos, with the organisers required to give police a three-day notice in order to obtain permission and demonstrators to keep to specified routes in the notice.

Mr Ruku’s Bill mirrors proposals by the Ministry of Interior to enforce stricter regulations on demonstrations and protests.

Read: Kenya youths protest as police tightens secutiy

Interior minister Kithure Kindiki on August 1 told a parliamentary committee vetting him for reappointment that he had finalised draft regulations for the Public Order Act that, among other things, confine protests and demonstrations to designated areas.

“It will also designate public institutions in all arms of the government to designate areas in their precincts or in the vicinity of their precincts where a group of protesters who want to demonstrate or present a petition to that public institution can assemble,” Prof Kindiki said.

Prof Kindiki, a former senator, is among the few survivors in the current Cabinet after President Ruto was in July forced to send home more than half of his first team of ministers to pacify protesters demanding his resignation over tax hikes introduced through a Finance Bill.

His reappointment was, however, one of the more controversial given the reports of killings, abductions and forced disappearances executed by special police squads on his previous watch.

Like Mr Ruku, the Interior minister has cited concerns about incidents of violence and destruction of property witnessed during protests and demonstrations in trying to justify his push to have them regulated.

But the timing of their proposals, amid palpable tension among the country’s political elite, has raised questions about their real intentions.

Civil society groups fear that the new Bill and regulations, if approved, will be used by President Ruto to crack down on legitimate protests against his government and shield the police from accountability for human rights violations.

Article 37 of the Kenyan Constitution states: “Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities.”

Read: Kenya Gen Z-led demos see upsurge in social media use

It is, however, not uncommon for the police to ban protests on flimsy grounds or break them up forcefully.

Excessive use of force by police against peaceful demonstrators during the latest wave of anti-government protests sparked a rare international condemnation of the Ruto administration, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken personally calling the Kenyan President on June 26 to raise his concerns.

“The secretary underscored the importance of security forces demonstrating restraint and refraining from violence and encouraged prompt investigations into allegations of human rights abuses,” the US State Department said a statement reporting Mr Blinken’s phone call to Dr Ruto.

Protesters shot

The two leaders spoke hours after perhaps the darkest moment of the protests on June 25 when at least 13 protesters were shot dead by police around parliament buildings alone.

Media reports indicated that at least 50 people were killed by police during the protests between June 18 and July 17 while scores of families continue to file reports of missing relatives.

US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Uzra Zeya echoed Mr Blinken’s concerns in a meeting with Dr Ruto in Nairobi on August 7, calling on the President to act on his commitment to uphold on the rule of law.

“And one specific area is the importance of investigating reports of security forces abuses, prosecuting those responsible and ensuring that accountability is achieved,” Ms Zeya said on the sidelines of a meeting with the country’s security sector players, including the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).

Ipoa was set up in 2011 to facilitate independent investigation of complaints against police officers and ensure that cases of misconduct are properly addressed.

Read: Protesters defy Ruto, pro-State groups counter

But its failures reflect the challenges the country faces reforming its law enforcement agency from a brutal colonial-era police force into a modern, professional and accountable police service.

Ipoa has in the past complained about alleged sabotage by the Office of the Inspector General of Police, whose own independence continues to be questioned.

Giving the police sweeping powers to ban and break up demonstrations will likely stall the criminal justice reforms further.