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Ruto explains why KDF will not man the streets during demos

A member of the Kenya Defence Forces holds a weapon from a military vehicle as Kenya Defence Forces patrol the streets during a demonstration over police killings of people protesting against Kenya's proposed finance bill 2024/2025, in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Reuters

By Maureen Kinyanjui | Monday, July 1, 2024

President Ruto, nonetheless, made it clear that those protestors who engage in criminal-like activities will be dealt with accordingly.

President William Ruto has assured that the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) will not man the streets during the anticipated protests scheduled for Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

During a media roundtable on Sunday, Ruto stated that the KDF would remain uninvolved as long as the demonstrations remained peaceful.

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"They (KDF) will come as a last resort. If the demonstrations will be peaceful, I promise you," he said at State House, Nairobi, during a media roundtable.

However, police will be present during the protests to protect the Kenyans who will be exercising their democratic rights.

President Ruto, nonetheless, made it clear that those protestors who engage in criminal-like activities will be dealt with accordingly.

"The police will be there to protect the demonstrators, but they will also be there to ensure the criminals who come to burn offices and loot property are dealt with. That is my commitment," he said.

Military vehicles with Kenya Defence Forces officers pass through Nairobi CBD as protests continue on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Photo: Hafsa Hassan)

Last week on Wednesday, Members of Parliament approved the deployment of Kenya Defence Forces officers within the country to restore order after Tuesday's June 25 protests, in which demonstrators breached security and accessed Parliament.

The soldiers were authorised to support the Kenya Police Service to restore normalcy after the anti-Finance Bill protests turned tragic.

Consequently, the Law Society of Kenya moved to court, seeking to stop the state from deploying military officers through a gazette notice issued by Cabinet Secretary for Defence Aden Duale.

The LSK contended that no emergency, unrest, or instability has been officially declared in Kenya to justify the deployment of the KDF to support the National Police Service (NPS).

However, the High Court upheld the deployment of the KDF. Justice Lawrence Mugambi stated that the military's continued assistance to the police is necessary to maintain peace, ensure public safety, and protect critical infrastructure.

He further directed that the duration and areas of engagement be gazetted within the next two days to alleviate the public's fear that their liberties might be jeopardised.

In a gazette notice dated June 28, Duale announced that KDF officers would be deployed across all 47 counties to assist the National Police Service in maintaining law and order.

"Based on the prevailing threats to national security planned and orchestrated through various platforms in cyberspace, the deployment will cover the 47 counties within the country where critical installations and infrastructure are located to assist the National Police Service in preserving life, preserve the internal security of the State, protect property as well as maintain law and order," reads the gazette notice.

Duale further said the terms of engagement for the deployment shall be the constitutional standards enshrined in the Bill of Rights, Articles 238(1) and (2) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, and the statutory requirements and principles provided in sections 3, 8 (2), 34 (1), 34 (3), and 35 of the Kenya Defence Forces Act.

He added that KDF will be deployed until normalcy is restored.