FortySouth

So the University of Nairobi (UoN) students went on the rampage yesterday.

The back story is that two human rights activists from the Oscar Foundation, Oscar King’ara and Paul Oulu, were shot by unknown gunmen along State House Rd. in Nairobi. The Oscar Foundation had been providing legal aid to a government-banned sect, Mungiki. A UoN student, Edwin Ong’aro, was involved in protests against the killing that occured near the University hostels. Police arrived at the scene, attempted to retrieve the body, met student opposition from the protesters, in the scuffle opened fire and a live bullet struck Edwin.

Students wanted to protest. University administrators were totally against it. You know the no-nonsense Prof. G. Magoha would have none of that, and indeed put students on notice. The demos were in fact flagged as illegal until a cohort of activists visited the Prime Minister and he ultimately backed them, ordering police not to impede their movements.

Well, if there’s anything we’ve learnt from previous protests by university students, it’s that they are all but peaceful; there’s almost always a red herring that causes digression:

I’m not against demonstrations, the right to lawful assembly is enshrined in the Constitution. However, Continue reading