On August 27, 2025, we will commemorate 15 years since Kenya adopted its new Constitution, ushering in a transformative constitutional dispensation.

The new constitution introduced key legal provisions, including the Bill of Rights, public participation in decision-making, separation of powers, institutional independence, and devolution. 

The process culminating in this new constitutional dispensation was pioneered by the young Turks, heroes and heroines of the second liberation struggle for multipartyism.

This struggle emerged from demands for multiparty democracy after the Constitution was amended in 1982, introducing Section 2A, which formally rendered Kenya a single-party state. 

In 1991, the draconian Section 2A was repealed, ushering back multiparty democracy in the 1992 general election. However, the struggle continued as people championed constitutional reforms. 

In 2002, the NARC government was overwhelmingly voted into office, promising to fast-track constitutional reforms and deliver a new constitution within the first 100 days.

Unfortunately, the Mwai Kibaki-led government suffered a major setback on November 21, 2005, when their draft constitution was rejected in the Banana/Orange referendum. 

Consequently, Kenyans went to the 2007 polls deeply divided along ethnic lines, leading to post-election violence where over 1,000 Kenyans lost their lives and thousands were displaced. 

Remarkably, on February 28, 2008, after days of mediation between government and opposition leaders, a process spearheaded by the late Kofi Annan, the parties signed the national accord and agreed to work together in a grand coalition government to achieve constitutional, institutional, land, and electoral reforms that were long overdue. 

As the old Swahili saying goes, “Hayawi hayawi huwa”, meaning what may seem impossible eventually happens. The struggle, loss of lives, and bloodshed were not in vain.

On August 4, 2010, Kenyans overwhelmingly voted for the new Constitution, which was later promulgated by the late President Mwai Kibaki on August 27, 2010, ushering in a new constitutional dispensation. 

It is uncontroverted that protests and demonstrations played a huge role in the liberation struggle. The renowned Saba Saba Day is a testament to this assertion.

Celebrated annually, it commemorates the landmark nationwide protests of July 7, 1990, where Kenyans agitated for the repeal of the draconian Section 2A.

The government reacted harshly — hundreds lost their lives, thousands were injured, and others were detained without trial. 

Renowned Indian writer Shashi Tharoor states in The Great Indian Novel that “the past is not necessarily a guide to the future, but it does partly help explain the present”.

Thus, it is regressive and retrogressive for a lawmaker to propose a bill that seeks to curtail the constitutionally guaranteed right to demonstrate, picket, assemble, and present petitions to public authorities as encapsulated under Article 37 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. 

The proposed bill by Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris – which seeks to abridge the right to demonstrate, picket, assemble, and present petitions to public authorities, contravenes the Constitution, the supreme law of the land –  is therefore null and void ab initio.

Its invalidity is further underscored by Article 2(4) of the Constitution, which provides that any law inconsistent with the Constitution is void to the extent of the inconsistency. 

The writer is a public interest litigation Advocate