Police can't ban protests, court declares

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja. [File, Standard]

The High Court has clipped the Inspector General of Police's powers to declare protests illegal at will and without justification.

Last year, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja banned protests within the Nairobi's Central Business District.

At the same time, he issued a directive that all protests must have leaders who ought to be held accountable in case of any destruction or harm.

However, Justice Bahati Mwamuye ruled that Kanja's directive was unconstitutional. He also quashed the decision as blanket.

"A declaration that the proposition to limit the right to picket was broad and did not meet the constitutional threshold. The press statement dated July 15, 2024, is illegal," ruled Justice Mwamuye.

Katiba Institute filed the case hours after Kanja banned the planned protests in the Nairobi CBD.

The decision by NPS was relayed in a press release weeks after the Gen-Zs protests against tax measures by the Kenya Kwanza administration.

"It is in the public interest that people be allowed to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully and unarmed and that the police serve the people who assemble by protecting them and not using excessive force against them," argued Katiba Institute's lawyer Joshua Malidzo. Malidzo argued that the acting IG abrogated to himself the sole privilege to determine when a constitutional right can be enjoyed. "They have turned the police service into a cabal operating as if the Constitution is a mere piece of paper. They have trampled upon the Bill of Rights and other constitutional provisions," he said. According to Malidzo, the police had already been notified, as required by law and that the law does not require protestors to have leaders.

Kanja had claimed the NPS had received credible intelligence that organised criminal groups were planning to take advantage of protests to execute various forms of crime. The IG said they had a hard time enforcing security protocols given the leaderless nature of the protests.