CORD has booked Uhuru Park for a parallel Madaraka day rally while president Uhuru will for the first time in history hold the annual national celebrations in Afraha stadium in Nakuru.

In a letter dated May 23, 2016, CORD said the rally will celebrate civil liberties and freedoms, and reaffirm the quest for constitutionalism in Kenya. The coalition has also asked the police to provide adequate security.

“We kindly request you to organize for the necessary arrangements to ensure the safety of all leaders and wananchi who will attend the rally,” CORD secretariat CEO Norman Magaya said.

CORD has also temporarily suspended its weekly anti-IEBC demos but gave Jubilee an 11-day ultimatum to start the talks over the removal of the IEBC commissioners or face a resumption of the “mother of all demonstrations”.

This will be the first time in history where a president has commemorated the Madaraka day celebrations outside Nairobi. Madaraka day marks the day Kenya attained internal self-rule on 1 June, 1963 which preceded full independence from the United Kingdom on 12 December 1963.

The Afraha celebrations will be the second largest meeting by Uhuru in Nakuru town after the thanksgiving rally in April 16 by the Jubilee coalition following the termination of the cases at The Hague against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang.