I had an extensive @BBCAfrica interview with Raila Odinga on Kenya demonstrations when parts of Northlands and Kibera were on fire Monday night. He believes the attack was planned by government. He also told me why Uhuru Kenyatta, the former president of Kenya, is a target.
Raila says he bears no responsibility for the destruction in other parts of Kenya during #MaandamanoMondays and defends his supporters' right to picket- even the violent ones. He gave his reasons. I asked him whether he was stretching the meaning of peaceful demonstrations.
"William Ruto must stop dismembering the opposition".
That's just one of the four conditions Raila Odinga has set before agreeing to any "meaningful" talks with the president to end #MaandamanoMondays. The others are on electoral justice and cost of living. @BBCAfrica .
It is hard to separate Monday's raids on former President Uhuru Kenyatta's family land from the brazen threats to do exactly that by Kenya government and ruling party officials and MPs, and the absence of police when hundreds of livestock were stolen and property destroyed.
Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwa expressly threatened Uhuru Kenyatta with raids on his farms for allegedly sponsoring Kenya's #Demonstrations , without giving proof.
Police have been present at the other protest spots, arresting people, threatening journalists and even shooting at least one dead. Not at Northlands, where active crime was also happening. Raiders didn't even bother to call themselves 'demonstrators'.
Yesterday during #Maandamano, I went live on Tik Tok for the first time.
In 30 minutes, I gained 8,000 new followers.
To put this in perspective, I gained less than 500 followers on Instagram the whole of 2022.
I have been trying to "hack" the General Z audiences. My age mates (you 🤣) on Twitter and FB already know me. Well, I got the answer when I decided, "Today, I will share my serious content on my dull, dormant Tik Tok page first." The response was dramatic
Thousands watched every snippet I sent. And when I went live, everything exploded.
So my crew and I went to Laikipia to find out why bandits were burning homes, killing people and boldly facing police in a gunfight. Its a complicated web of historical injustice, greed and pure criminal enterprise.
Its a part of Kenya now called a disturbed zone. Contested lands in a conflict which has made it unsafe for children to go to school without armed escort.
Raiders apparently stalked villagers' homes from surrounding maize plantations. Alice, who used to call this home, was asleep here on the night of the attack with her 3 children. She grabbed them and disappeared into the plantation. Her kitchen was torched with everything in it.