The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has deployed a legal team to secure the release of former Chief Justice David Maraga and other activists who were aprehended on Monday, along Lang’ata Road.
The move was confirmed by LSK President Charles Kanjama who stated that lawyers had been dispatched to Lang’ata Police Station to demand the unconditional release of those detained.
The former Chief Justice was arrested while taking part in demonstrations over the alleged irregular allocation of land within Nairobi National Park.
“We have immediately dispatched an LSK legal team to Lang’ata Police Station to secure the unconditional release of the activists,” Kanjama said.
LSK described the arrest as shocking and said it amounted to an attack on constitutional freedoms and civic space guaranteed under Article 37 of the Constitution.
According to the society, the arrests reflected a broader pattern of the use of police force against peaceful protesters.
According to conservation groups and reports cited by activists, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is clearing about 76 acres of indigenous forest within Nairobi National Park following a National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) licence that approved the conversion of part of a protected low-use zone.
Environmentalists have strongly opposed the move, arguing that it threatens fragile ecosystems and undermines conservation protections within the park.
LSK President Kanjama further said that national heritage sites should not be treated as private assets, stating that they should not be “bartered behind closed doors.”
Additionally, Kanjama condemned what he termed the bundling of the former Chief Justice into a police vehicle for peacefully opposing a proposed Ksh42 billion project said to have proceeded without public participation.
In response to the matter, the society has now called for an immediate end to the harassment of civic actors and demanded a transparent public audit of the Bomas expansion plan.
