In June 1982, the Kenyan parliament passed a constitutional amendment, Section 2A, declaring KANU the only legal political party in Kenya. It was not a coup. It was legislation, passed by elected representatives, making opposition to the ruling party technically illegal. The amendment came weeks before the attempted coup in August. It was Moi's pre-emptive strike against any alternative centre of political power. University lecturers who opposed it were fired. Activists who protested were arrested. Kenya's democratic experiment, already fragile, was officially suspended.