Null and Void! Nairobi Police Boss ADAMSON BUNGEI responds to RAILA’s Azimio letter notifying the police of next week’s protests

 Thursday, March 23, 2023 – Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei has responded to the letter by Raila Odinga’s Azimio, notifying the police of next week’s protests as required by the law.

According to Bungei, Raila’s notification letter to the police about next week’s protests is null and void.

Raila, through Azimio Executive Council Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, notified the Police Boss yesterday of their intent to stage a peaceful procession on Monday and Thursday next week in Nairobi city.

In the letter, Oparanya noted their procession will take place on all major streets in the Nairobi Central Business District, thereby asking Mr. Bungei to deploy enough police officers for security.

However, according to Bungei, the notification letter was addressed to the wrong person.

He noted that the Azimio team should instead have addressed and served the letter to the Officer Commanding the Police Station (OCS) of the area where they expect to stage their procession.

He hence urged the Opposition team to go ahead and follow due process and furnish the area police station chief, in this case presumably the Nairobi Central Police Station OCS, with their letter of intent on time before staging the protests.

“We have procedures on how we serve the letters for protest or picketing, as guided by the law. Under Section 2 of the Public Order Act, it is indicated very clearly who is the regulating officer of the permits to be issued – it is the officer in charge of a police station. At this level of mine, this is a regional command, whereby we dispense services to the police stations,” he said.

“Therefore, in this matter related to the issue of protests, it has to be served to the police station. We’re not saying that we refuse to pick or not, we’re guided by the law that this document needs to be delivered to the Officer Commanding Police Station, in the area where the proposed procession would be held.”

Bungei denied the request by Azimio to protest peacefully during the Monday demos, saying they were not informed in time, but now the Opposition is trying to do the right thing here.