The people shall

This is my view, and no one else's: a constitution is a piece of paper until enough citizens take the necessary steps to respect, protect and uphold the constitution. In Kenya, the mistake that many learned friends have made is to assume that the constitution will only be "implemented" after the state, state officers, state agents and state organs respect, protect and uphold the constitution. They are, respectfully, wrong.

There is a lot that the state can do to celebrate the highest principles of the constitution, but the state will not do any of those things unless the people make it. Kenya's Second Republic was promulgated in 2010 and one very day thereafter, there are many courageous Kenyans who took it upon themselves to live according to the edict in Article 3, Clause (1) of the Constitution of Kenya. One of the seminal moments in this battle was the decisive (after a fashion) defeat of the BBI process that sought to ameliorate the suffering of the political classes while trampling on the wishes and desires of the peoples of this fair land.

I say "ameliorate" because a careful examination of the proposals that received the greatest support of the political classes was the expansion of the unelected offices that politicians would be entitled to after a general election. These unelected positions, ostensibly to ensure that "no part of Kenya is left out of Government" were intended to establish a post-election coalition in all but name between the majority party, the minority party and the unhappy losers in presidential and gubernatorial elections so that they would not foment opposition to the government of the day.

Household economic questions were given short shrift; the cost of living is the highest it has ever been, never mind the posh-sounding pablums by the Council of Economic Advisors. Mr. Miguna Miguna's proposal to slash the take-home salaries of elected state officers did not even receive the courtesy of a response. The proposal by Mr. Ekuru Aukot to create a more equitable parliament, fifty/fifty between men and women and fewer in number (aka Punguza Mizigo Bill), was rejected out of hand. Mr. Okiya Omtatah's campaign to audit the public debt has been opposed at every turn by successive governments. In short, the people's needs were not on the table; the needs of fat-cat politicians, used to the truffles of the state, took centre stage.

It is only when enough citizens impose their will on the state that the constitution will be implemented in full. It will not be implemented only if the only thing you have in your hand is a court order. Take the BBI fiasco as a guide: while it was defeated in the law courts, the current parliament has taken upon itself to revive the process on its own motion, with a few parliament-specific goals in tow. This time round, despite several judgments of the superior court, parliament is plowing full-steam ahead with parliamentarians' desire to "entrench CDF in the constitution". Mealy-mouthed explanations about the "benefits of CDF" fly in the express findings of the superior courts: Kenya does not need wasteful public funds purporting to implement programmes of national and county governments.

It has been twelve months since the government faced the brunt of the anger of young Kenyans and the president "withdrew" the Finance Bill 2024 after it had been enacted by parliament. What Kenyans did on that terrible day last year was to espouse the highest principles of the constitution to respect, protect and uphold the constitution. They were back on the streets of many cities and towns of Kenya on the one year anniversary. Their resolve does not appear to have waned despite a year of propaganda and search engine optimisation by propagandists of the state. Constitutions are not self-executing instruments; they require the blood, sweat and toil of the people to make any kind of sense. Kenyans demonstrate this truism with a resolve that should terrify the men and women who have chosen to suborn and pervert the constitutional order.