Opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka has thrown his weight behind growing calls to declare June 25 a national public holiday, saying the date marks a turning point in Kenya’s democratic history and should be commemorated as “Liberation Day.”
In a strongly worded statement issued ahead of the second anniversary of the 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests, the Wiper Party leader accused President William Ruto’s administration of responding to peaceful demonstrations with “calculated, shameful and contemptible” force, and renewed demands for accountability over deaths, abductions and disappearances linked to the protests.
Musyoka said the Gen Z-led demonstrations of June 2024 had achieved what even seasoned opposition leaders had struggled to accomplish, mobilising young Kenyans across the country against punitive taxation, corruption and poor governance.
“On June 25, 2024, the young people of this country exercised their constitutional rights. And when those young people marched, they did not march alone. The conscience of this nation marched with them,” he said.
The former Vice President urged security agencies to exercise maximum restraint during planned anniversary commemorations, warning against a repeat of the violence that marred previous demonstrations.
His remarks come amid heightened political tensions and renewed scrutiny over the government’s handling of the 2024 protests, during which dozens of young Kenyans were killed and scores allegedly abducted.
Musyoka took issue with Parliament’s recent passage of the Finance Bill 2026, arguing that lawmakers had failed to learn from the events that sparked nationwide outrage two years ago.
“That decision sends a deeply disturbing message. It is a message that the blood shed on our streets two years ago left no lasting mark on the conscience of those entrusted with the leadership of our nation,” he said.
The Azimio principal praised 40 MPs who voted against the legislation and criticised more than 180 lawmakers who were absent during the vote, describing their absence as an abdication of duty.
He also endorsed a six-point reform agenda championed by youth activists and called for a full accounting of all deaths, disappearances, kidnappings and alleged torture linked to the demonstrations.
Musyoka singled out the case of Rex Masai, one of the first protesters killed during the 2024 unrest, citing recent court disclosures that key evidence, including the bullet removed from his body and CCTV footage from the scene, was never secured by investigators.
“The officer charged in the case may ultimately walk free, not because he has been found innocent, but because the evidence required to secure justice was never gathered,” he said.
The opposition leader further argued that compensation alone would not deliver justice to affected families, insisting that accountability must extend beyond individual officers to those who authorised or facilitated the alleged abuses.
As Kenyans prepare to mark the anniversary, Musyoka said the young people who took to the streets in 2024 should be remembered not as victims but as patriots whose actions reshaped the country’s political conversation.
“History will remember them not as victims, but as patriots who stood up when their country needed them most,” he said.
