Azimio protests and the police response to them has provided a perfect redemption moment for the civil society players that were considered partisan in the 2022 general election, sector insiders now say. 

Some of the insiders told the Star that while most of them had been sympathetic to opposition causes championed for a long time by Azimio leader Raila Odinga, his dalliance with then President Uhuru Kenyatta made them feel abandoned.

Then Deputy President William Ruto, then in a high stakes rivalry with Uhuru and the ODM leader, leveraged on the disenchantment, luring a section of the activists to his side.

Suba Churchill, a veteran activist, says most of the civil society outfits and NGOs clandestinely consulted for the Ruto core strategy teams.

“Most of those people were deep in Kenya Kwanza. They proudly would say that some of the strategies and ideas fronted by the politicians were their own, including bottom-up [agenda],” he said.

He added that a majority of the partisan players in the civil society world have become disappointed as those in Azimio are stung by the pain of loss, while those on the Kenya Kwanza side are embarrassed by the perceived disinterest in government to implement the pro-people policies espoused during the campaigns.

“Most of them who were on the side of Kenya Kwanza are now too embarrassed to get back to championing the ideologies that the sector has always stood for," Churchill said. 

"Some of the policies they fronted, like hustler narrative, among others, have not been implemented as they thought or any regard given to them."

John Muraguri, an activist who runs a CBO in Nairobi, also told the Star that the Azimio protests provided a suitable platform for the alleged partisan groups to move back to their former positions as they got the chance to call out the police and state excesses.

“But they are finding it difficult. Some of them are also having a sour taste in the mouth because they have not been appointed anywhere, despite giving credence to the UDA team during the campaigns,” Muraguri said.

During its press conference at the height of the Azimio protests, International Commission on Jurists Kenya section refuted claims of political bias, asserting that they stand on the side of the rule of law.

Asked whether it was condemning police conduct during the protests as a means of redeeming their image, ICJ’s council member Christine Alai said the lobby was firmly on the side of the rule of law.

“We will not say much, but what we know is that ICJ stands on the side of the rule of law and human right,” she said when asked about perceived political partisanship in the sector.

Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid, however, denied the perception that majority of the civil society players were partisan in the past polls.

"I can speak for Haki Africa and say that we have done our work professionally and objectively, remaining committed to championing for social justice and rule of law for everybody irrespective of their political leaning. We have never been partisan," he said.

Khalid added that players in the sector who became partisan were acting on their own, and that should not be construed to represent the entire civil society.