Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has weighed in on Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris’s Public Order Bill that aims to prohibit public gatherings and protests near Parliament and other protected areas that are considered vital to Kenya’s constitutional order.
Speaking during an interview with a local TV station on Wednesday, June 2, 2025, Cherargei said that the bill, which is currently before the National Assembly’s Administration and Internal Security Committee, is a private member’s bill presented by Passaris and not a government-sponsored proposal.
He emphasised that if it were indeed a government-backed initiative, proper procedure would have required it to be routed through the Office of the Majority Leader or tabled in the Senate.
“The bill that is before the National Assembly Security Committee at the moment is a private member’s bill. Parliament does not legislate. Esther Passaris is a member of ODM and is a member of a broad-based group, but she is also a parliamentarian. If this were a government bill, it should have come through the majority leader of the national assembly or even the Senate,” Cherargei said.
“We are the parliamentarians, it is our work to do the law-making process, and the national executive’s work is to implement what we have passed.”
Passaris’s Bill
Cherargei’s clarification came after Passiris presented the Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to the National Assembly Security Committee on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, which seeks to amend the Public Order Act (Cap. 56) to introduce new rules about where Kenyans can hold demonstrations and public processions.
“A person shall not hold a public meeting or public procession within a radius of one hundred metres from the precincts of Parliament, protected areas under the Protected Areas Act, and courtrooms,” the proposal read in parts.
Anyone found breaking this law would be guilty of an offence and “shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both.”
“We need to start with the protection of areas that safeguard our Constitution and areas that protect our most vulnerable citizens. And also the penalty of rape during demonstration; we have to review that law, because it has become rampant,” Passaris said, explaining her reasoning during the National Assembly Security Committee on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
If passed, the law could significantly alter how protests are managed in Nairobi and across Kenya.
