Opposition protests banned in main cities

The government on Thursday banned opposition protests in the country’s three biggest cities — Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa — because of “imminent danger of breach of peace” as the fresh presidential election approaches.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga this week withdrew from the Oct. 26 vote after his legal challenge led the Supreme Court to nullify the August election in which President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner. Odinga has said that without reforms to Kenya’s election commission the new vote could be run worse than the first one, and he has called on supporters to protest for changes.

The Supreme Court on Sept. 1 annulled Kenyatta’s re-election, citing “irregularities and illegalities” in the vote-counting and the electoral commission’s refusal to allow scrutiny of its computer system.