Opposition protests rock Kenya, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa
Oppsotion leaders in Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia are set to hold mass protests on March 20, 2023.
In Kenya, Azimio leader Raila Odinga has called for mass action in Nairobi and vowed that the protests will be peaceful.
He has also declared March 20, 2023 a public holiday even though he doesnt have the powers to do so.
“We are putting pressure on the government to lower the cost of living. That is the bare minimum because it is what they promised during the campaigns anyway,” said Mr Odinga, who also maintains, but has failed to convince the courts, that his victory in the August 2022 polls was stolen.
Meanwhile, supporters of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko are protesting in the country’s capital Dakar in support of the aspiring presidential candidate who faces a libel case set to resume this week.
The demonstrations are the latest expression of growing tensions in Senegal in the run-up to the polls in 2024.
The opposition has also warned President Macky Sall from vying for a third term, arguing the move is unconstitutional.
At the same time, Nigeria’s opposition outfit the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, has also planned protests over alleged electoral fraud.
The protestors on March 13, 2023, marched to Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices, protesting against the country’s election results that declared Bola Tinubu as the president.
Supporters, who caused traffic jams in parts of Abuja, also carried placards with inscriptions, ‘We say no to injustice and fraud” and “No more cheating’.
In Tunisia’s capital Tunis, protests will be held on March 20, 2023, to pressure the government over the alleged authoritarian rule by President Kais Saied.
Thousands of opposition supporters including members of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) have been rallying in the capital Tunis.
In South Africa, EFF leader Julius Malema has threatened to unleash the “mother of all protests” which he said would bring South Africa to a standstill on March 20.
The protestors are aimed at putting pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to offer altenratives to the electricity crisis.
South Africans have been forced to go for upto half a day without electricity following an acutre shortage reportedly caused by lack of proper management.
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