Kenya’s opposition holds vigils for slain and injured protesters

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s opposition on Wednesday held candle-lit vigils in major cities for the more than two dozen people killed and scores injured during protests this month against the high cost of living and tax hikes passed in June.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has repeatedly called for acts of civil disobedience against a government he accuses of raising the cost of living and consolidating power.

The Azimio la Umoja (Declaration of Unity) coalition he leads held five protests earlier this month, causing widespread disruption which in some cases ended in violent confrontations with police.

“Kenyans have gone through horror and terror these past days. People whose crime was to protest against policies that they feel worked against them have been shot dead, clobbered to a pulp or maimed,” said Kalonzo Musyoka, a veteran Azimio lawmaker.

Police killed 37 people during the protests, Kenyan rights group Independent Medico-Legal Unit said earlier this week, while Azimio claims at least 50 people were slain.

The interior ministry said on Wednesday claims that security forces committed extrajudicial killings or used excessive force were false and malicious.

On Wednesday Odinga, Musyoka and other opposition figures visited injured protesters at two hospitals in the capital Nairobi.

“Kenyans are still hurting and we shall not relent until this regime acknowledges this grim reality of suffering and agrees to repeal the finance act,” Musyoka said, referring to legislation that Kenya’s High Court suspended pending a legal challenge.

Odinga has in the past secured senior positions in government by making deals with those in power, following periods of unrest, but says he is not interested in any position in President William Ruto’s government.

Ruto has said he also would not allow Odinga into his government, but was open to meeting him.

“As you have always known, am available to meet one on one with you anytime at your convenience,” Ruto wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

(Reporting by Jefferson Kahinju, Humphrey Malalo; Writing by George Obulutsa and Hereward Holland, editing by Emelia Sithole and Bernadette Baum)