Saba Saba Day in Kenya


Monday marked the 35th anniversary of the historic Saba Saba – meaning "seven-seven" in Swahili – protests of 7 July 1990, which fought for multi-party democracy in Kenya. At least eleven people were killed during the anti-government protests and 567 were arrested, according to police reports. History seems to keep repeating itself.

Saba Saba in Kenya dates back to June 1982 when the Kenyan constitution was amended to transform the de facto one-party rule in the country into an official, de jure one-party state. In July, a London-based organization of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners in Kenya (CRPPK), came forth as a ‘solidarity organization’ for those arrested, detained or harassed for their political beliefs and activities in Kenya. The organization was committed to exposing Moi’s ‘systematic attacks on intellectual, political and cultural life’. Soon after, the attempted coup in August 1982 gave Moi the perfect excuse to turn Kenya into a repressive, dictatorial state and 'cement' his rule. 

In June 1990, Reverend Timothy Njoya of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, alongside the former cabinet ministers Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, applied for a license in order to hold a public rally in Nairobi, which was scheduled for July 7th with the intention of discussing the advantages of a multi-party system. This was after the reverend had delivered a hot sermon at St. Andrew's Church in Nairobi on New Year's Day 1990. He publicly challenged Kenyan leadership under one party – KANU – led by former president Daniel Moi and called for multiparty democracy in line with the changed global situation. However, President Moi's regime declined their request to hold the rally, stating that the advocates of multi-party politics had the intent to come up with killer gangs to terrorize the public and later blame the government. This guy sounds like a visual representation of weak and insecure masculinity sha, but okayyyyy. The police sha heard (abi were told, hmm) and proceeded to storm the press conferences that followed, confiscating journalists' pens and notebooks. 

In 1992, protests were organized under the approval and coordination of political activists such as Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia. Police brutality was yet again associated with this ‘peace march’. Since then, Saba Saba has been associated with protests and demonstrations that occur on the same day to seek political reforms in the country. On December 2, 1992 however, Moi bulged and repealed Section 2A of the Constitution giving way to multipartyism. 

Decades after Saba Saba, the frustration felt by this generation and its children – despite having successfully fought for a new constitution – still runs deep. Power is still largely imperial, exercised in a brutal and unaccountable manner, and institutions still falter. The country is divided, the fabric of nationhood is fraying, and stability remains fragile. In this light, Kenya's Saba Saba serves as a reminder that sometimes, freedom needs to be fought for and reclaimed more than once.

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