Kenya’s NASA opposition alliance to protest as tensions escalate once more

Kenya’s opposition National Super Alliance (NASA), led by its leader Raila Odinga, will march to Nairobi’s Central Police Station today to protest against police abuses.

Last August, Kenya’s highest judicial body nullified Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in the 2017 presidential election due to “irregularities and illegalities” in the voting process. However, Odinga boycotted the revote and Kenyatta emerged victorious again. Since August, opposition supporters have clashed with police. Odinga and his supporters allege that electoral reforms were not implemented between the two elections. They also assert that Kenyatta’s government has significantly curtailed freedom of expression, particularly of the press.

With Odinga recently sworn in by NASA leaders in a mock inauguration as the “people’s president” and arrests of opposition leaders increasing—the fourth happening last Friday—do not expect the situation in Kenya to deescalate anytime soon. Watch out for the extent to which Kenyatta’s government continues to crackdown on opposition politicians versus the extent to which NASA’s base resorts to violence to achieve their somewhat unclear political endgame.