Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party says Raila Odinga's supporters were tear-gassed in Nairobi Cental Business District (CBD) during his 79th birthday celebrations on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka said that they had to change the venue for a cake-cutting ceremony they had organised to celebrate the former prime minister.

"Our supporters were tear-gassed for celebrating Baba's birthday. Why would someone teargas a birthday cake? May be someone wants to stop the start a revolution," Kalonzo remarked.

On his part, Tim Wanyonyi, the MP for Westlands, claimed police orchestrated the incident.

"The police turned up and tear-gassed our supporters. The government is scared because of tension and Kenyans who have no money as schools reopen," he said.

However, Odinga himself was reportedly not present during the alleged incident, with Mr Musyoka saying he was in Malindi, Kilifi County.

According to a video seen by this writer, people dressed in the opposition coalition's purple and orange colors are seen singing birthday songs around a cake mounted at a tent near Kenya National Archives in the Nairobi city centre.

PHOTO | COURTESY: Raila Odinga supporters cutting cake at Nairobi's Kenya National Archives. Image: X/AnyangNyogo

Tear gas canisters then began blowing up at the main table where the cake and cutlery were placed, as the crowd and nearby traders rushed away.

The cakes were emblazoned with 'Cut VAT', 'Cut Turnover Tax' and 'Cut Housing Levy', among other phrases, while atop them a miniature Kenyan flag was mounted.



"No one can prevent people from cutting a cake. The teargas is a fear the government has about Odinga," Musyoka added.