The Nairobi City County Chief Officer for Urban Development and Planning Patrick Analo Akivaga  has called on people planning to attend the Sabasaba  demonstration set for Monday July 7 to avoid engaging in destructive practice as they engage in the protests.

Speaking during a radio interview at Ghetto Radio today, Analo noted that even though  Article 37 of the Kenyan Constitution guarantees every person the right to assemble, demonstrate, picket, and present petitions to public authorities, provided they are peaceful and unarmed, those protesting should refrain themselves from destruction of public property and infrastructure. 

Analo called on the protesters to be peaceful  as the county government  is committed to provide necessary emergency evacuation services to anyone in the city, whether a protester or a passer by who might get injured.

“I want to plead with people planning to take part in demonstrations  to be peaceful.  Demonstrations are allowed by the constitution for people to air out their voices on things that they support or descent and therefore  the demonstrations are allowed but they should not destroy  public infrastructure which has been built using public funds and even if it is destroyed,  it will  still be repaired through the people’s  taxes so let us be peaceful  and avoid wastage of our taxes,” Analo said during  the interview. 

“To construct the CBD modern walkways, installation of stateof the art streetlights, installation of modern bins, the continuous development of our severlines, roads networks and many other government projects have been made from the taxes collected from hardworking Kenyans and that is why I am calling out on our people to avoid  destruction, ” Analo added.

Analo estimated that Nairobi has lost almost Ksh. 3 Billion to protests in terms of lost working hours a d physical damage to public and private damage this year alone.

“When there are protests, people don’t open their businesses  and therefore the economy  is at standstill. The destruction of infrastructure like what we say the other time people burning our litter bins, destroying cabros on pavements burning tires on the tarmacked roads destruction of lights and much more, that should not be the case. I urge protesters to be peaceful  and not to destroy or loot people’s businesses, ” he said.

Analo said that while the county government has endeavoured to construct modern public  facilities and infrastructure  that make Nairobi  a city capable to compete with other cities around  Africa,  it will be wrong if this projects are vandalised.

“Africa  has cities which could not compete with Nairobi  but now once we start destruction,  we shall not be able to compete with other cities in Ethiopia , Rwanda, Tanzania and even South Africa so let us not destroy our city,” he said.