Kenya’s protest: A call to prioritize crowd control measures

PW/Const. Evelyn Owusu: “Sir, it appears violent protest has gradually become a characteristic of modern democratic societies”.

Me: “Yes, protest is one of the fundamental human rights, Individuals who are driven by a diverse range of concerns and motivations take to the streets to express their grievances and advocate for change. Thus, civil protests have been recorded in almost every part of the world, nevertheless, with reported cases of casualties. In Ghana, Article 21 (1) (d) guarantees that “all persons shall have the right to freedom of assembly including freedom to take part in processions and demonstrations.” What is oftentimes not amplified is that protest, like all other rights, are not absolute (Gorman & others v The Republic). This means that protest can be subjected to lawful limitations and restrictions in the interest of public safety, order and well-being. In most cases, it is the effort to balance the rights and limitation that lead to series of misunderstanding, confrontations and violent clashes between the police and protestors. However, the police are often not successful in their quest to subject protests to lawful limitation due to the nature of our body-politic.

PW/Const Evelyn Owusu: “Sir, So, how best can we handle protest in ways that would prioritize public safety?”

Me: let us reflect on the Kenyan protests and draw out some lessons.

The Kenyan experience
As discussed, globally, protests across the world are becoming increasingly violent. The European election results in Toulouse led to violent clashes as security officers launched several tear gases to disperse crowd in Western France. In Kenya, the widespread perception that the government is out of touch with the needs of the people, and the feeling that parliament no longer represents the people are some of the underlying reasons why the youth took to the street to protest violently. However, evidence so far indicates that what made the crowd difficult to control was the fact that youth from various fashion groups converged on different parts of the streets, overwhelming law enforcement resources and straining efforts to maintain order. My friend, Roderick Okoampa Ayeh was then Nairobi and these were his observations:

“Our city tour was cancelled when the news broke that they were demonstrating so we headed to the giraffe Park. This is was where the challenge started. We diverted our course twice due to driving into two different groups of demonstrators. We also saw small groups massing up and walking to join the demonstrations. This prolonged our drive to the park leaving us with just some few minutes to catch up for lunch. We rushed lunch to make time for the airport at 3:30pm so we could catch up with our flight to Dubai which was to leave at 5: 30pm. Finally, Kenya Airlines rescheduled the flight time from 5:30 pm to 9 pm due to the fact that the crew had been caught up in the demonstrations in town and therefore could not make their way to the Airport. So, there were no specific routes for the demonstration and you could meet it in unexpected places.

As protest become more frequent, it is essential that we take proactive measures to reduce their potential harms and prevent adverse consequences, even if we cannot entirely prevent the protest themselves. We must prioritize implementing effective crowd control measures and adopt a more robust and resilient approach to public order management, aiming to achieve zero casualties during protests.

PW/Const Evelyn Owusu: “Sir, so what safety measures can we adopt to uphold the peace of Ghana when protest turn out to be violent?

Me: As global tensions and hardship persist, protests are likely to escalate and intensify. The ongoing global economic crisis will continue to fuel widespread discontent, leading to a surge in protests and demonstration. In response, it would be crucial for us, as a nation, to establish or revive a nationwide platform and dedicated space for the youth to engage in constructive dialogue and have their voices heard as valued stakeholders.

Second, it is imperative that the government begins to look at the law enforcement agencies responsible for crowd control, and invest heavily in their logistics, for efficient management of large crowds, in order to mitigate the eruption of chaos and violence during protest. Finally, we should continue to sensitize younger generation to seek peaceful and constructive avenues for addressing grievances, rather than resorting to violence as a means of problem-solving. `

PW/Const. Evelyn Owusu: Sir, thank you for the insight

ME: Happy birthday, Evelyn!