Azimio leader Raila Odinga was to lead his fourth mass protest in Nairobi on Monday, April 3, but that could not happen after a dialogue deal with President William Ruto was sealed nearly at the 11th hour.
This forced Raila to suspend the demos for a week to give room for talks saying they will resume if dialogue fails to make meaningful progress.
As president Ruto noted in his address to the nation, the two weeks of protests occasioned nightmares for many businessmen who closed shops and those who lost properties after their premises were attacked by hooligans who wet away with stock.
Kenyans equally bore the brunt of demos as they were forced to suspend their activities in hotspot areas for safety reasons.
When the Star combed various streets of Nairobi and some residential estates on Monday, businesses were slowly picking up.
In the Pipeline area of Nairobi, many residents were handed relief following the calling off of the demos.
"The chaos was not good for my family. The smoke from the teargas could even reach my children in the house yet they were meters away. The demos also brought my work to a standstill," Ndung'u, a bodaboda rider in Pipeline said.
He said on the day demos hit his area, he was not able to earn anything as he could not transport customers due to the violent protesters.
Ndung'u explained that some people took advantage of the chaos to loot and steal.
He said there were areas within the Pipeline where thieves would force his passenger to alight to steal from them.
"Heri amani ikue ata kama tutanunua unga na 250 kuliko vita enye inafanya huezi pata pesa yoyote kutokana na kazi unafanya. Vita iishe tu," he said.
( It is better for peace to reign even if we will buy maize flour at Sh 250 rather than chaos which causes one to earn nothing from their work. Let the chaos end.)
On a tour of Kibra, this reporter observed that many businesspeople whose stalls had been burnt during the demos were busy reconstructing them.
Maurice Kutswa, the Head Teacher of Chrisco Educational centre in Kibra, the Raila-Ruto ceasefire has granted them the tranquillity they need to carry out their activities.
Kutswa explained that the demos brought so much fear and disrupted learning.
"The demos gave us a lot of hell because people were running up and down, and teargas canister was being thrown here and there. The teargas reached the classes," he told the Star.
"The children could not learn because they were being affected by teargas. Some were sneezing, others crying while a majority were coughing."
Kutswa added that one of his teachers was injured after being hit by a stone as demonstrations were ongoing in the adjacent area.
The school's roofing sheets were not spared as they were destroyed by stones being hurled. He says the sheets now leak when it rains.
"The first day of the demos I had to call parents to come to pick up their children because we could not teach due to the noise around," Kutswa explained.
He says these protests also contributed to absenteeism as some parents failed to bring their children to school out of fear.
And for those who came, noise pollution paralysed learning forcing the school to suspend the academic programs.
Kutswa said the Ruto-Raila dialogue deal is a reprieve to the school and many others who suffered heavily as a result of the protests.
"Initially before that announcement was made, I had told them not to report. But after the announcement, I was able to send text messages telling parents they can bring the children," he said.
The Story Kutswa and Ndung'u are replicated in many parts of the country where demos were staged.
Ruto in his address to the nation Sunday acknowledged that the protests had occassioned grave acts of lawlessness, widespread violence, looting and invasion of private property.
He noted that these were done by persons taking advantage of political demonstrations called by the opposition.
The President said during this period, three people have been killed including a police officer, and 400 others injured amongst them 60 officers while a police vehicle was burnt in Kawangware.
He said the country's economy has also suffered as a result of this and its image dented in the league of modern nations at stake.
