Are we returning to dark era?

I have observed closely how the security agencies are handling the CORD demos against IEBC. They seem not to know crowd control, dealing with demonstrations and on how to handle such situations. I was today glued on my television to see what happens. We changed the constitution but still our security agencies are not aware of the right to demonstrate. We cannot keep teargassing our people who demonstrate against corruption.

The police need to be briefed on how to handle demos. Majority of them think that when they have been given tear gas, they have to use it. Are the police allowed to use life bullets on demonstrators? Are they supposed to teargas peaceful demos? Do they know how to handle demos? These are the questions that linger in many people’s minds. The police have little knowledge on how to respond to people demonstrating.

Last year, I saw police tear gassing pupils demonstrating against land grabbers who had attempted to take their playground. These incidences show how uninformed the Kenya police is on the rights of the people to demonstrate..

I urge the Inspector of Police to train more officers on crowd control, how to handle demos and how to respond in such occassions. The police have been seen to use excessive force and this trend may bring a dark era to our democratic gained freedom.