Ruto warns Kenyans on planned June 25 demos
National
By
Ronald Kipruto
| Jun 19, 2026
President William Ruto has warned against any destructive plans during next week’s planned anniversary of the June 25 anti-government protests.
The President called on the nation to work together to protect the country, saying Kenya must never be allowed to go backwards.
“The one thing that is not going to happen is that people will be mobilised to destroy property or to cause chaos or mayhem. That will not happen,” he said.
The President was speaking during the National Productivity and Performance Conference at State House, Nairobi, on Friday, June 19.
He added; “We must also protect the right of our children to go to school and learn, and our farmers to go to the farm and produce food so that we do not sleep hungry. And the business people, we must protect them to go to work to do business.”
He said he will be at the forefront to lead in protecting the nation.
“We are going to do it together: the public service, the legislator, constitutional commissions, our judiciary, the executive and on that mission of protecting everybody, I will lead that charge.”
His remarks come just a day after a call by the families of youths killed during the 2024 anti-tax protests, together with opposition leaders and human rights defenders, submitted a notification to Nairobi to Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja of plans to hold nationwide demonstrations next week to mark the second anniversary of the June 25 unrest.
They said that the commemorations seek to honour more than 60 people killed during the protests and press for accountability, maintaining that the right to picket remains protected under the Constitution and urged police to avoid excessive force during the planned gatherings.
“You cannot compensate families and at the same time continue killing more people. This must stop,” one family representative said.
“There should be dialogue between the police and the people to create mutual understanding on what ‘Utumishi kwa wote’ truly means,” another representative noted.
They also want June 25 declared a public holiday, permission to lay flowers at Parliament Buildings and the construction of a memorial at the legislature site.