Oburu calls for Saba Saba to be declared a national holiday

ODM leader Dr Oburu Oginga has called on the government to gazette Saba Saba Day as a national holiday in honour of the sacrifices made and the democratic gains achieved since the historic 1990 pro-democracy movement.

On their part, Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, PLP leader Martha Karua and Safina Party leader Jimi Wanjigi criticised the government, accusing it of undermining the very freedoms and democratic gains that Saba Saba fought to secure.

PLP leader Martha Karua marked this year's Saba Saba Day in Kisii County, where she presided over the official opening of party offices and rallied supporters around her political agenda.

Karua used the occasion to reflect on the pro-democracy struggle that gave birth to Saba Saba more than three decades ago, paying tribute to the sacrifices made in the fight for political freedoms and multi-party democracy in Kenya.

"Saba Saba was the peak of our liberation. We remember that through it we got the Constitution of 2010," said Martha Karua.

Karua accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of rolling back the democratic gains achieved through the Saba Saba struggle.

"We must never be blocked from commemorating Saba Saba," she stated.

In Nakuru, Safina Party leader Jimi Wanjigi also criticised the government, accusing it of silencing dissenting voices and shrinking the country's democratic space.

Through a statement, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka condemned what he described as escalating attacks on opposition leaders, independent media and dissenting voices.

Kalonzo said the return of political intolerance was a dangerous attempt to drag Kenya back to the dark days of dictatorship that the Saba Saba movement sought to end.

He further said that a nation cannot claim to be democratic while intimidating political competitors, silencing the press and criminalising peaceful dissent, arguing that such actions offend both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution.

Kalonzo also called for the immediate and unconditional release of every Kenyan arrested while peacefully exercising their constitutional right to demonstrate.

In a separate Saba Saba Day message, ODM leader Dr. Oburu Odinga reflected on the historic 1990 pro-democracy movement, saying it was driven by clear and monumental objectives, the dismantling of the one-party state, the repeal of Section 2A of the Constitution and the restoration of multi-party democracy.

Oburu said that, having lived through the struggle, he takes pride in the fact that those objectives were achieved, first through the political reforms of the early 1990s and later entrenched in the 2010 Constitution.

The ODM leader said that with the key objectives of the Saba Saba movement achieved, the commemoration should now evolve. He proposed that Saba Saba Day be gazetted as a national holiday to honour Kenya's democracy heroes.

According to Oburu, it is time to move away from street confrontations and instead use Saba Saba Day to reflect on Kenya's democratic gains, look to the future and honour the heroes who fought for freedom.