Nairobi - Kenyan police fired teargas and
shots in the air on Monday as hundreds of demonstrators marched
through the capital Nairobi to protest against proposed legal
changes that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to annul
an election.
Reuters television footage showed a sport utility vehicle
ploughing into some of the protesters, severely injuring three,
but it was not immediately clear who was responsible and the
police made no immediate comment on the incident.
Kenya is due on October 26 to repeat a presidential election
after the Supreme Court nullified an August 8 vote due to
procedural irregularities. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the
August election, will face opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Uncertainty over the coming election has created turmoil in
the East African nation, which is a regional trade hub and
staunch Western ally.
As the demonstrators marched towards the election board in
Nairobi, a Reuters journalist saw men in plain clothes near
security forces fire shots in the air. Police on horseback set
up blockades to prevent protesters from accessing some roads.
Police also used teargas in the western city of Kisumu,
Odinga's stronghold, to disperse protesters, though another
demonstration in the coastal city of Mombasa passed peacefully.
Odinga's opposition alliance is threatening to boycott the
October vote unless the electoral board changes some personnel -
a stance he declined on Monday to clarify, in comments that
suggested he was keeping his options open for now.
"This is a democratic society we live in. If I choose not to
participate in the pre-rigged election process, it is my
democratic right. No court can order me to do so," Odinga said
in comments broadcast on Kenyan TV stations, without elaborating
further.
"DECLARING WAR"
The protesters want to warn ruling party lawmakers not to
pass an amendment to the election law that would limit the
circumstances in which the Supreme Court could void an election
on procedural grounds, opposition lawmaker James Orengo said.
"If parliament passes the law tomorrow, it will be like
declaring war on the Kenyan people," he said.
Justin Muturi, speaker of the National Assembly, said the
amendment could be debated when parliament reconvenes on Tuesday
if lawmakers were keen to push it forward.
He said the key part of the proposed law stipulates that if
a candidate boycotts an election whose date has already been
set, the remaining candidate would win the contest without
formal polls being held.
The government is keen to avoid a constitutional crisis if
Odinga pulls out at the last minute, frustrating the court's
order to hold elections within 60 days, Muturi said.
"We are trying to prevent a crisis should there be no
elections," he told Reuters by phone.
The government-backed Kenya National Commission on Human
Rights said on Monday in a report that at least 37 people had
been killed in a police crackdown on protests that immediately
followed the August vote - the highest death toll given so far.
The report attributed some deaths to "police using live
bullets and a few from police bludgeoning using clubs". It named
a 6-month-old baby girl, a 7-year-old boy, and an 8-year-old
girl as being among the victims.