In the wake of the gruesome killing of seasoned lawyer Kyalo Mbobu, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has organized a countrywide protest march to demand justice and denounce a rising tide of attacks against legal practitioners.
The protest, dubbed the Purple Ribbon March, is set for Friday, September 12, 9:00 AM at the Milimani Law Courts. Activists will march in ritual procession down Kenyatta Avenue to Vigilance House, where a memorandum of their grievances shall be presented to Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja.
He was gunned to death in a drive-by shooting on Magadi Road in Nairobi on Tuesday evening. Two assailants on a motorbike drove up alongside his vehicle and pumped a single bullet to his head before fleeing towards Uthiru.
LSK chairman Faith Odhiambo, in a Wednesday statement, welcomed members of the legal community and the public at large to participate in the procession in solidarity. The protesters are asked to wear purple ribbons unity and in mourning for a life cut short.
March is symbolic more than. It is a call to action for justice,” Odhiambo said. “Too many champions are attacked, threatened, and even killed for doing nothing but their work. This needs to stop.”
Purple Ribbon March will also be celebrated in all eight LSK branches across the country.
Odhiambo called on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to pursue the case with alacrity and transparency, while the legal fraternity is shaken and increasingly terrified.
“Our security agencies must act quickly and decisively. We are at the edge of a crisis an emerging culture of impunity and intimidation of lawyers which jeopardises the rule of law itself,” she further added.
Mbobu’s murder has opened rumour across the country, with Senior Counsel Bar (SCB) members expressing alarm at potential links to earlier high-profile court battles. SCB Chairman Philip Murgor mentioned an old land issue in which Captain (Rtd) Kung’u Muigai, a member of former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s clan, was entangled an issue on which Mbobu had previously served as counsel.
Ironically, on the day Mbobu was assassinated, Kung’u went to social media lamenting a 33-year-old land case over a 443-acre tract of land in Thika. He accused judges handling the case of corruption and faulted the judiciary, lamenting that his petitions had never yielded anything.
“Coincidence that Mbobu was murdered hours after that tweet? We can’t afford to sweep these appalling questions under the carpet,” tweeted Murgor. “This is a contract killing. The DCI must pursue each lead where it takes him.”
“We’ve called out all available resources to try to find and arrest the perpetrators,” wrote a police statement. “It was a planned, cold-blooded killing and we’re going to make the people responsible for it pay.”
While investigators piece together what went down that Tuesday evening, the legal community is preparing to march in the face of fear and in memory of one of their own.
In the words of LSK leaders: Purple Ribbon March is not all about Kyalo Mbobu it is about all the activists who are brave enough to defy intimidation and stand up for justice.
