KENYA: Police fire tear gas at protesters calling for sack of electoral commission

Scores of protesters calling for the resignation of officials of the Kenyan electoral commission in opposition strongholds of Kisumu and Siaya got a rough deal from police officers who fired tear gas at them.

The nationwide demonstrations called by Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, who also demanded that the ruling party is blocked from changing voting laws, also saw security forces hurling tear gas canisters at demonstrators in the capital, Nairobi.

Odinga has promised that protests will take place twice a week until the demonstrators’ demands are met.

“We have no other option but to take the battle to the people,” Odinga said at a press conference on Thursday, as he called his supporters to turn out in force.

Read also: KENYA: Demonstrators call for sack of electoral commission in wild protests

“I call upon this generation to resist. They must arise and resist an attempt to try and take them back to the eras of single-party dictatorship. We are calling our people to action,” Odinga said.

Kenya’s chief prosecutor, Keriako Tobiko, has also ordered that the country’s electoral officials be investigated for alleged “irregularities and illegalities” in the last August elections which was annulled by the Supreme Court.

Tobiko, the Director of public prosecutions, said wide-ranging investigations must be conducted in the next 21 days, into the August election which saw Kenyatta declared the winner, at the polls which was later annulled after claims of “massive” fraud.

 

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