Military deployment imperils our nascent democracy
On June 26, the National Assembly voted in a record 30 minutes to approve a motion by Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah authorising the Executive to deploy Kenya Defence Forces officers in the streets as officials sought to restore order amid widespread protests.
The approval came within hours of Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale publishing an official notice in the Kenya Gazette to that effect, a day after anti-tax protesters angered by MPs’ decision to pass the unpopular 2024 Finance Bill overran Parliament buildings, sending lawmakers scampering for their safety.
Other than those buildings, some protesters reportedly vandalised the Supreme Court and Nairobi County governor’s office at City Hall.
“The Kenya Defence Forces is deployed on the 25th June, 2024 in support of the National Police Service in response to the security emergency caused by the ongoing violent protests in various parts of the Republic of Kenya resulting in destruction and breaching of critical infrastructure,” the notice said.
Article 241(3) (c) of the Constitution provides that defence forces may be deployed to restore peace in any part of Kenya affected by unrest or instability, but only with the approval of the National Assembly. Pursuant to Article 241(3) (c) of the Constitution, Section 32 of the Kenya Defence Forces Act authorises the Defence Council to deploy the forces in any part of the country affected by unrest or instability, with the Chief of the Defence Forces taking charge of of the operation.
Ruling on a petition filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) challenging the deployment, High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi allowed the deployment to continue, but directed that detailed terms of the operation be published afresh in the gazette within two days.
In its petition, the LSK had contended that there was no emergency or critical security incident beyond the capability of the Kenya Police to warrant the deployment.
Ironically, the hurried internal deployment of the military happened a day after President William
Ruto saw off a contingent of 400 police officers as part of a multinational force to restore order in Haiti, arriving in the strife-torn Caribbean nation on the same day that protests rocked Nairobi.
Kenya will send 600 more police officers to complete its pledge of 1,000, who will be part of a 2,500-force being deployed in Haiti to pacify armed gangs that have controlled the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince for years.
In recent years, Kenyans have raised legitimate concerns about the somewhat habitual manner in which the national government has tended to lean on the support of the military to execute mandates that are largely civilian in nature and scope.
While data from the World Bank shows that President Ruto’s predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, may have set an unassailable record in the region on increased expenditure on the military and intelligence services - largely on account of threats of terrorism, cumulatively spending more than Sh1 trillion on the country’s defence and intelligence personnel, including on modernising equipment and facilities in the 10 years of his leadership - at no time did he deploy the army to protect himself from “treasonous protesters” as Ruto has done.
Suffice to say that past involvements of the military in civilian operations arose largely from the realisation that the army, the navy and the air force each have particular skill sets and equipment and, therefore, were considered the first line of defence and rescue, especially in dealing with natural or manmade disasters like floods, fire outbreaks or terrorist attacks.
However, the latest deployment, in which defence forces are out of the barracks fully aware that it’s because the civilian authority has lost the legitimacy to govern, portends an existential threat to Kenya’s nascent democracy.
The writer is the Executive Director of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre
