A day after protests in Kenya led by opposition leader Raila Odinga, Kenyan President William Ruto urged the population to respect the rule of law.
“No one should trample on the rights of others,” President Ruto, who is on a trip to Germany, said yesterday, according to a statement from the presidency.
Raila Odinga, a 78-year-old opposition veteran, has called fortnightly protests, every Monday and Thursday, against President William Ruto, whom he accuses of stealing the 2022 presidential election and being unable to contain the explosion at the cost of living.
On Monday, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Nairobi and the western town of Kisumu, a stronghold of Odinga, also targeting vehicles carrying journalists in the Kenyan capital.
From Germany, President William Ruto urged Kenyans to submit to the rule of law and assured that impunity will not be tolerated.
“That is what makes us equal. Nobody should violate the rights of others,” said the head of state before members of the Kenyan community in Germany, according to a press release from the presidency.
The president of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, expressed this Tuesday his “deep concern about the violence (…) which caused one death, caused material damage and interrupted some economic activities”.
“The President urges all parties concerned to remain calm and to engage in dialogue to overcome any differences in the supreme interest of unity and national reconciliation,” the statement read.