Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris announced she had shelved the proposed Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2025 amid pressure from the public.
She said she was responding to the call by the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) and other voices of conscience.
She has faced criticism over the attempt to introduce the Bill.
“I have decided to pause the pre-publication process of the Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2025 to allow for national dialogue and wide public engagement.”
“This is an invitation to co-create legislation that safeguards constitutional freedoms while ensuring public order,” she said in a post.
She challenged religious institutions to raise the moral bar of public discourse.
“Let us teach and encourage a culture of peaceful protest, lawful engagement, and respectful disagreement values rooted in faith and democracy alike.”
“A just society is not built by force or fear, but by accountability on all sides from citizens to state officers. It is my hope that this conversation will shift from confrontation to collaboration,” she said.
“As we honour the spirit of Saba Saba; let us move forward not in anger, but in shared accountability; each of us doing our part to secure Kenya’s promise of prosperity.”
NCCK called for the withdrawal of the controversial Public Order (Amendment) Bill sponsored by Passaris, which proposes limitations on the premises of holding protests.
The Public Order Amendment Bill, 2025 is no different from the Assembly and Demonstrations Bill, of 2024, which ran contrary to the bill of rights as it imposed disproportionate restrictions upon the fundamental right to assembly and to demonstrate, as protected by Article 37 of the Kenyan Constitution.
The Bill seeks to direct and probably scuttle the way in which picketing and demonstrations are held in Kenya.
It proposes to change the Public Order Act by redefining what constitutes a public meeting, processions as well as introducing specific spaces or zones for picketing.
Article 37 of the Constitution of Kenya, specifies that every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities; this right is a fundamental freedom.
It is this fundamental freedom that has turned very dicey for a government that is plagued by protests and demonstrations on many fronts but foremost on matters of poor governance, endemic corruption and lack of the rule of law.
By the mere fact of demonstrating against it, the government cannot arrest and successfully prosecute any peaceful demonstrator even as demonstrators are increasingly targeted by the state during or after the act of picketing.
Many are beaten up or shot in the process while some are abducted, but even all these heinous acts have not stemmed the propensity for more protests.
In many ways, the Public Order Amendment Bill, 2025 proposes changes to the existing Public Order Act (Cap. 56) by introducing restrictions on the locations of public meetings.
One of the proposals spells out that there will be no public meeting or procession allowed within a 100-meter radius of Parliament, protected areas such as State House (under the Protected Areas Act) and courtrooms.
It states that “A person who contravenes the provisions of this section commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding Ksh100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or both.”
The Bill also seeks to designate the Interior Ministry Cabinet Secretary an authority to designate where protests can be held (in consultations with county government) and areas where they cannot be held.
Appearing before the Administration and Internal Security Committee, Passaris said that her proposal seeks to create guidelines on where demonstrations should be held.
She said that protests in the country need to adopt an orderly conduct to avoid violence and death of protesters as seen in previous national demonstrations.
The official touted reason for this Bill is in light of the wanton destruction of property witnessed during the last few demonstrations.
The government ascribes to the protestors the mayhem and loss of property and the protestors, in turn, say the goons who infiltrate the demonstrations, ostensibly, with the blessings of powerful officials in government, are to blame.
On June 25, the public witnessed incidents of arson, destruction of personal and public property, looting, breaking and stealing, robbery among others.
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