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Meet the man who’ll strip naked in anti-gay protest during Obama visit


A 33-year-old man is the face behind a political party that has vowed to have 5,000 of its members march naked in Nairobi to protest US President Barack Obama’s support for homosexuality.

Mr Vincent Kidaha, a father of two, says he means business with a letter wrote to the Nairobi Administration Police commandant on Monday, informing him of a strike planned by the Republican Liberty Party on July 22 and 23.

In an interview with Nairobi News on Tuesday afternoon, he said there will be 4,000 men and 1,000 women taking part in the protest.

He asked members of the party he leads — which he claims total up to 1.5 million — to arrive at Uhuru Park with polythene paper bags to store their clothes so they can wear them again when the protest is over.

‘CHICKEN OUT’

“We have confirmed the names of the women through their cell leaders. They will organise their meeting at 9am on those days,” he said, adding that he could not share the list with the media before the procession because the members would “chicken out”.

“Gays in Kenya are paid and if you are paid to do something, you must throw all the words you need to throw because the pay master must see that this man is doing his work,” he said.

The letter, which was received by the Nairobi AP commander on Monday, said the procession will be peaceful.

It stated: “Through this letter we notify you this (sic) we shall hold a peaceful procession in Nairobi on 22nd and 23rd of July 2015 commencing from the Freedom Corner at 10.00am.”

TOTALLY NAKED

“The procession shall be carried out by approximately 5,000 totally naked men and women to protest over the United States of America President Barack Obama’s open and aggressive support for homosexuality.

“The party’s objective is for him to see and understand the different (sic) between a man and a woman.”

Mr Zachariah Matayo (left) and Mr Vincent Kidaha outside the Nation Centre on Tuesday.
Mr Zachariah Matayo (left) and Mr Vincent Kidaha outside the Nation Centre on Tuesday.

In August 2014, the party took to Parliament the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in which they wrote that it seeks to “prohibit and penalise homosexual behaviour and related practices in Kenya as they constitute a threat to the traditional family”.

The Bill says anyone who is guilty of sodomy or homosexuality should be jailed for life and if he is a foreigner, “the sentence shall be subjected to death by stoning in public”.

It also recommends public stoning for a person who commits “aggravated homosexuality”, which it defines as homosexuality perpetrated by a person who is HIV positive or against a disabled or vulnerable person.

The Bill, he said, is yet to be discussed at the floor of the National Assembly.

POSITIVE REACTIONS

Mr Kidaha was flanked by Mr Zachariah Matayo, who unsuccessfully vied for the Embakasi parliamentary seat in the General Election of March 4, 2013.

Mr Kidaha said the party never fielded a presidential candidate during the last General Election and that it doesn’t have any elected member in Parliament, which he said was the reason why their anti-homosexuality Bill has not gone to the committee stages.

He noted that the party, which was first registered in 1994, has offices throughout the country and five in the diaspora.

“We have received both positive and negative reactions but we are treating them in equal measure as a party,” he said of the latter.