Yesterday, across more than twenty counties, Kenyans took to the streets not in anger, but in pursuit of justice. From Mombasa to Nakuru, Kisumu to Nairobi, Uasin Gishu to Kajiado Makueni to Nyeri and beyond, they marched, stood, raised placards, and their voices, not to destroy, but to remember. To honour lives lost in the same struggle exactly one year ago. And to demand a nation that values every citizen equally.
At the centre of this moment is the Kenyan who dares to believe in justice. The mother who buried a child. The youth who was shot, jailed or disappeared. The citizen who raised a placard, posted a truth, or simply stood still in protest. It is for them that I must speak today, loudly and without contradiction.
The grief of loss cannot and must not be normalised. These are not deaths by misfortune but lives deliberately shattered through state-sanctioned violence. It is not normal to count our children’s bodies on the pavement. It is not normal for peaceful protests to be met with live bullets, illegal arrests, and a digital blackout. The use of force by law enforcement agencies, the Communications Authority’s The use of force by law enforcement agencies, the Communications Authority’s disruption of broadcast services, and the government’s complicit silence on the lives lost is a betrayal of the Constitution and of every Kenyan’s dignity.
One mistake, one misstep, was already too much last year. The government had an opportunity to reflect, to learn, and to show that Kenyan lives matter. Instead, it chose repetition over reflection. The events of 25 June 2025 reveal a chilling truth: that the welfare of its citizens is not the priority of this administration. That impunity, not accountability, is their chosen path.
And yet, even in grief, the Kenyan people have shown us something extraordinary. These protests, spanning more than half of our counties, offered not just resistance, but revelation. They were not a function of tribe, nor the cries of the privileged few or marginalised masses alone. They were a united front that brought together the urban, the rural, the peri-urban, the informal, and the suburban. A beautiful chorus of conscience that rose above ethnic lines and economic divisions, those old tools of political manipulation that we have been told define us. Yesterday, Kenyans proved otherwise.
They showed who we truly are when we are not being divided: a people bound by hope, truth, and shared dignity.
As a mother, a citizen, a defender of the Constitution, and a lifelong advocate for human rights, I mourn the lives lost, the hopes extinguished, and the futures fractured. But I will not retreat. I will not surrender to despair. But I will not retreat. I will not surrender to despair. Because this new wave of civic courage, this call for justice led by a bold, brilliant, and boundary-defying generation, intensifies the fire that has burned in me since my youthful years.
This serves as my unreserved condemnation of the state sponsored goons who infiltrated the otherwise peaceful protests, raped women, brutally assaulted citizens, looted businesses and orchestrated chaos. They and those backing them must be punished to the full extent of the law.
I commend the resolute efforts of the Law Society of Kenya, under the visionary leadership of Faith Odhiambo, the Media Council of Kenya led by David Omwoyo Omwoyo, MBS, Kenya Editors Guild led by Zubeida Kananu, the Katiba Institute, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), under the stewardship of Dr Raymond Nyeris. Their courage strengthens our democracy.
To every Kenyan who showed up, in the streets, online, in courtrooms, or by organising community support, I see you. I am with you. The cries of grieving mothers, the haunting absence of loved ones, the resolve etched on youthful faces, will not be forgotten. Let it be known; I will never turn from their pain. I will never turn away from the promise of a freer, fairer Kenya.
I pledge to support all lawful, collective action to hold power to account for the blatant violations of Kenyans’ civil liberties. It is our shared duty to ensure that the Constitution lives not just on paper, but in the lives of every citizen.
By Hon. Martha Karua, SC and Party Leader, People’s Liberation Party (PLP)