From Hope to Horror: How the Government Crushed Saba Saba

By Eddeus Atandi

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

Monday’s Saba Saba commemoration was yet another painful reminder that Kenya’s democracy remains shackled by state brutality, selective justice and systemic deafness to the cries of its youth.

What began decades ago as a symbol of resistance and reform has now been reduced to a blood-stained ritual where the very freedom it once fought for is mocked by baton-wielding officers and hired thugs.

In the heart of the protest zones, the script was all too familiar in that peaceful demonstrators mostly young, unemployed and frustrated Kenyans marched with placards and chants demanding accountability, jobs and a government that listens.

But instead of engagement, they were met with tear gas, rubber bullets and brute force.

Meanwhile, suspiciously coordinated goons roamed free, looting businesses and harassing bystanders under the watch of silent police officers who suddenly turned blind.

Tragically, lives were lost in places like Ngong, where bullets replaced dialogue and silence followed death.

As families mourn their loved ones, the government remains unmoved, more invested in optics and “control” than addressing the core issues raised by protestors.

Let’s be honest, this is not about law and order. It’s about fear. The state fears the organized power of the youth. It fears the hashtag revolutions that are slowly turning into street revolutions. And instead of dialogue, it offers intimidation. Instead of reform, it offers repression. Instead of leadership, it offers chest-thumping.

But this approach is unsustainable. You cannot police away hunger. You cannot teargas unemployment. And you cannot silence an entire generation that has nothing left to lose.

If the government is serious about unity, peace and progress, then it must do more than deploy boots to the streets. It must engage, listen and respond. Not with press conferences, but with policies. Not with threats, but with transparency.

The Saba Saba spirit is not dead. It lives on in every young person who refuses to be silenced, in every placard that demands justice and in every voice that dares to speak truth to power. And until this government learns to hear those voices, the streets will keep speaking louder.