- July 7 (Saba Saba Day) marked under tight police surveillance and road closures in Nairobi.
- The day commemorates the 1990 pro-democracy struggle, but youth say the same freedoms are under threat today.
- Streets remained deserted, businesses shut, and police sealed off key roads into the CBD.
- Over 80 lives lost since the June protests, as reports of abductions, brutality, and repression grow.
Kenya marked this year’s Saba Saba Day under heavy police presence and a near citywide shutdown. Once a symbol of democratic victory, July 7 arrived under an air of tension, reminding many of a country spiralling back into repression.
In Nairobi, roads like Jogoo, Mombasa, Thika, and Waiyaki Way were blocked, public movement was restricted, and access to the CBD was tightly monitored. Businesses closed down, schools suspended classes, and what should have been a regular Monday turned into a state-imposed lockdown.
Saba Saba, born from the 1990 Kamukunji uprising, once stood for the triumph of pluralism over dictatorship. But today, many young Kenyans feel betrayed angry at the rising cost of living, corruption, and what they see as a government willing to shed blood to hold power.
Activist Hanifa Aden summed up the public mood on X: “The police are getting rained on as they block every road while we stay at home warming our beds… Total shutdown and forced holiday executed by the state.”
Since June, nationwide protests have turned deadly. Rights groups say at least 80 Kenyans have died, while several others have gone missing under mysterious circumstances, believed to be victims of enforced disappearances.
The government, however, insists the demonstrations are not peaceful but “planned insurrections”, accusing activists of attempting to destabilise the country.
On Sunday, a press event hosted by the Kenya Human Rights Commission was violently disrupted by stick-wielding thugs who stormed the venue as speakers condemned killings and illegal arrests.
Although President Ruto remains in control through his handshake-like alliance with Raila Odinga, analysts warn that state violence is pushing the youth further away from the government.
Political analyst Gabrielle Lynch noted:
“They don’t seem to realise the world is different now. People don’t have the same inbuilt fear of the state.”
Activist Nerima Wako echoed that:
“Every time people organise a protest, they kill more people. So it just feeds itself.”
Monday’s calm wasn’t a sign of peace, but fear of bloodshed. Yet behind the silence, Nairobi’s youth remain deeply dissatisfied. While there may have been no mass rallies, the heavy deployment and barricades told their own story.
As anger simmers, one thing is clear: the generation that grew up learning about Saba Saba may soon write their version of it, not in textbooks, but on the streets.
