July 7 became the date Kenyan protesters in the 1990s used to steer the country clear of autocracy and toward political accountability. In 2025, that spirit may be more relevant than ever.

"The striking similarity between the Gen Z protests of 2024-25 and the Saba Saba protests of the '90s is that both were centered on a clamor for better leadership," analyst Mutuma Kithinji tells DW.

"It was the day people came out in open defiance of a brutal dictatorship," says human rights activist Wanjira Wanjiru. "It was a day we reclaimed our voice."

By 1990, Kenya had known just two leaders, despite gaining independence on December 12, 1963. Daniel arap Moi had led Kenya for 12 years by exploiting intense ethnic-based rivalry, and Kenya effectively became a one-party state increasingly known for kleptocracy, corruption and state abuse.

A response to Kenya's despotic rule

But extensive protests, the end of the Cold War, and a stagnating economy tempered Moi's grip on power. When two cabinet ministers, Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, were detained without trial, the first Saba Saba protests erupted in July 1990. Twenty people were arrested and 1,056 people were charged, although no law enforcement officials faced prosecution.

Protesters wanted a multi-party democracy, and despite state repression, Moi caved. While the resulting 1992 and 1997 elections were marred by violence and vote rigging, Moi's seemingly untouchable power was checked. 

Nairobian Eliza Njoroge says the Saba Saba protests remain influential to ordinary Kenyans.

"They were disruptive, but made people very confident. They definitely changed Kenya, and the people realized they can speak up and that they have the power," she told DW.

For analyst Kithinji, many of the problems from 1990 are still prevalent today. 

"The Gen Zs feel the leadership does not address their issues: accountability, economic injustice, corruption, disappearance of people, extrajudicial killings, among others," he told DW.

A view widely held, including by Kithinji, is that while the Saba Saba protests of 1990 had definitive political leadership figures such as Rubia and Mathiba, the Gen Z-led demonstrations today are a grassroots movement without defined leaders or ethnic affiliations.

Echoes of Saba Saba in 2024

The Kenya Finance Bill protests of 2024 exploded in June after the government approved unpopular legislation that would have significantly increased taxation of ordinary Kenyans. President William Ruto was forced to shelve the bill.

"We are doing the same things we did in 1990. The causes are the same, except that this time it's in a technologically different environment," says David Kyule of the University of Nairobi. A key factor, he says, is that young Kenyans today are better educated than the protesters in the 1990s, partly due to education rights enshrined in Kenya's 2010 constitution.

"They have come of age in a time of widespread suffering and unmet expectations," Kyule explains.

But while the protestors have changed, their core grievances have not. And neither, arguably, has the attitude of the politicians in power, and how they have used force to respond.

The mid-2024 demonstrations saw more than 50 people killed when police and security forces confronted protesters.

"We have the current President (Ruto), who was there in those days, and many know him as a student of Moi," Kithinji told DW. "The government reponded with force in the 1990s and today." 

But according to Wanjira Wanjiru, another key concern is the unknown number of protesters who have been forcibly disappeared. 

"The abductions and extrajudicial killings happening today are more rampant. The blatant disregard for human rights is shocking. So is the disregard for rule of law," she told DW.

2025 sees more protests and more killings in Kenya

Kenya, and particularly Nairobi, has already seen large, youth-led protests, initially to commemorate the deadly demonstrations of 2024. The unexplained death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody sparked more anti-police brutality demonstrations.

In response, Kenya's Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen claimed the demonstrations were an attempted coup, and issued a "shoot to kill" directive for officers if they were attacked.

The Kenyan government has also tried to cast protestors as a destabilizing force, mirroríng the approach of Moi's government in 1990.

"There's no credible evidence suggesting that this is the case in either era," says Kithinji. "Labeling the protestors as destabilizing is more about political control."

David Kyule told DW that police responses have appeared to worsen the situation, with the ensuing chaos suggesting violence and destruction, rather than the initial, peaceful demonstrations.

As for alleged attempts to intimidate protesters through abductions, Wanjiru says: "People have completely lost their fear. In fact, any attempt to bring back fear to the people kind of inspires more resistance and has the opposite effect," she told DW.  

Kenyan lawmakers ponder restricting protests

With the Saba Saba protests seemingly inevitable, Parliament has introduced a bill to restrict protests within 100 meters of key government institutions, such as the parliament, state house and courts. 

"These are all attempts at cracking down [on] the people's voice and to evade accountability. Instead of addressing the demands of the protesters, they're looking to crack down on democracy further," Wanjira told DW.

Others remain unconvinced that there will be justice for the scores of people already killed.

A young Kenyan woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told DW: "Albert Ojwang's case is still in court. And Rex Masai, the first person we lost during last year's protest, his case is still in court. When you go to the streets to seek justice for those people, we lose more people. Will they get justice at any time?"

Steve Marsha, a trainee journalist, said it remained important for Kenyans to stand up for their constitutional rights, and pointed to Ruto's government trying to ban coverage of the protests.

"We are on the edge from where the country will probably plunge to a place that we will not be able to get ourselves out," he told DW.

Edited by: Sarah Hucal

This article was updated on July 3, 2025, to reflect the correct date of Kenya's independence