Katiba at 16: Kenyans challenged to stop celebrating and start defending the constitution

When President William Ruto delivered his State of the Nation Address at the Parliament plenary, Nairobi on Nov 21, 2024.[File.]

Sixteen years after Kenya promulgated the 2010 Constitution, lawyers, faith leaders and professionals have challenged Kenyans to move beyond celebrating the country’s supreme law and take an active role in protecting, implementing and holding institutions accountable to it.

The call was made yesterday at Ufungamano House during Katiba Day 2026, organised by the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum (KCPF) and partner organisations under the theme, “Article 1:1 – From Blaming to Active Participation.” The forum brought together professionals and religious leaders for discussions, constitutional audits and reflections on governance, devolution, electoral integrity and citizen participation.

Law Society of Kenya President Charles Kanjama said the most important feature of the 2010 Constitution is that it begins with the people, rather than the President, Parliament or the Judiciary.

“All sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya,” Kanjama said, drawing attention to Article 1 and the Constitution’s recognition of citizens as the ultimate holders of sovereign power.

He challenged Kenyans to stop viewing leadership purely through political positions and instead recognise that constitutional leadership begins with individual citizens.

“Leadership does not start with positions, nor does it end with positions. It starts with the individual and the relationships that we have,” he said.

Kanjama also traced Kenya’s constitutional history from independence, noting how the independence Constitution was repeatedly amended, eventually becoming substantially different from the document negotiated before independence.

His historical account, he said, offered a warning about what can happen when citizens fail to defend constitutional safeguards.

“The first custodian of the Constitution, the sovereign, is the people of Kenya,” Kanjama said, urging citizens to see themselves as the primary protectors of the Constitution.

He gave Kenyans three immediate responsibilities: to know the Constitution, understand the institutions created under it and hold those institutions accountable.

Kanjama said accountability was central to constitutionalism because institutions must account for the power, resources and functions entrusted to them by the people.

He urged citizens to familiarise themselves with the Constitution’s 18 chapters, 264 articles and schedules, arguing that constitutional knowledge should not be restricted to lawyers.

His message was particularly directed at professionals and people of faith, whom he urged to become examples of constitutional citizenship in their workplaces, homes, churches and communities.

The LSK president also warned that a Constitution, however well written, could become ineffective if citizens lacked the courage and integrity to defend it.

“The Constitution is worth much less if the people do not have courage and integrity,” he said.

Speaking after Kanjama, National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Commissioner Jerusah Mwaadhime shifted the conversation towards national reconciliation and the challenges facing Kenya as it approaches the 2027 General Election.

Mwaadhime said that 16 years after the Constitution came into force, the country must ask a more difficult question: whether Kenyans are actually living the Constitution.

She recalled encountering fellow students who had been displaced during the 2007–08 post-election violence, saying the experience demonstrated the human cost of political and ethnic divisions.

The NCIC representative said Kenya continues to face trust deficits between citizens and institutions,  between communities and, increasingly, between generations.

“There can be no meaningful healing without acknowledging pain. There can be no reconciliation without justice,” she said.

Mwaadhime argued that compensation for victims of human rights violations cannot replace accountability for those responsible.

“Compensation is not a substitute for accountability,” she said, adding that genuine reparations must also encompass healing, apologies, psychological support, institutional reform and guarantees that violations will not be repeated.

She warned against Kenya’s tendency to wait for crises before beginning reconciliation efforts.

“We cannot repeatedly wait for Kenya to fracture and then assemble committees to repair it,” Mwaadhime said.

According to her, reconciliation must become preventive rather than reactive, particularly as the country heads towards another politically charged election.

The NCIC has already launched its roadmap for a violence-free 2027 election, dubbed “Election Bila Noma 2027.” Mwaadhime said the initiative seeks to address political intolerance, hate speech, ethnic mobilisation, youth vulnerability and the growing misuse of digital technology.

She warned that artificial intelligence, deepfakes, misinformation and disinformation could amplify existing grievances at unprecedented speed.

Unlike in previous political eras, she said, harmful messages can now travel across the country within seconds, making digital platforms a major frontier in the fight against hate and division.

Young people, she added, require particular attention because, although they are educated, connected and politically conscious, many remain economically frustrated and vulnerable to political manipulation.

The NCIC is therefore pursuing trust-building initiatives, including listening forums and intergenerational conversations aimed at bringing young people and older generations together.

The discussions at Ufungamano House placed the Constitution within the broader question of Kenya’s democratic future: whether the promises contained in the 2010 document can survive without citizens willing to actively defend them.

Kanjama’s message was that constitutionalism cannot be left to courts, politicians or commissions alone. Mwaadhime’s intervention similarly placed reconciliation and national cohesion at the centre of the Constitution’s promise.

Sixteen years after Kenyans adopted the Constitution, the message from Katiba Day 2026 was therefore less about celebrating the document and more about confronting citizens with their responsibility to make it work.

As Kanjama put it, Kenyans must be willing to “stand up and be counted” by knowing the Constitution, demanding accountability and participating in public life.

The challenge, ultimately, is whether the Constitution will remain a document of ideals or become what its defenders envision: a living reality shaped and protected by the people themselves.