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Police arrest activists along Harambee Avenue, Nairobi during Saba Saba Day commemoration on July 7, 2026. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]
As Kenya marks 36 years since Saba Saba, the protest tradition once led by veteran politicians now belongs to a generation demanding accountability rather than multi-party rule.
The name, Kiswahili for Seven Seven, marks July 7, 1990, when Kenyans took to the streets after the government banned a pro-democracy rally at Nairobi's Kamukunji Grounds.
Opposition leaders Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia had called for the restoration of multi-party politics under the one-party rule of the Kenya African National Union (KANU).
