NAIROBI, Kenya- President William Ruto has used the 16th anniversary of Kenya’s Constitution to call for greater accountability across government, the legislature and the Judiciary, while acknowledging that the country must confront difficult questions about the implementation of the supreme law.
Speaking at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi on Thursday, August 27, Ruto said Katiba Day should be more than an annual celebration and should instead serve as “a day of national accounting”.
He asked whether Kenya had faithfully implemented the Constitution, whether those exercising public authority had done so responsibly and whether State institutions had honoured the purposes for which they were established.
But the President’s remarks come against a backdrop of persistent accusations that his administration and security agencies have themselves violated constitutional provisions, particularly on the right to peaceful protest, human rights and respect for court decisions.
Ruto acknowledged some of those concerns in his speech, saying the 2024 protests and those that followed had raised serious constitutional questions.
He said young Kenyans had exercised their rights to speak, assemble, demonstrate, picket and petition public authorities, adding that their demands for accountability and better governance “were not an assault on democracy”.
The President also acknowledged allegations of unlawful arrests, enforced disappearances and excessive use of lethal force, saying every credible allegation of human-rights violations must be independently and transparently investigated.
The concerns are not merely political accusations.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) documented cases of enforced disappearance, torture, unlawful use of force and arbitrary arrests following the June 25, 2026 protests.
The commission said it documented seven incidents of enforced disappearance of peaceful protesters and 361 arrests across several counties.
Human Rights Watch has also reported that Kenyan authorities continued to face accusations of killings, abductions and arbitrary arrests linked to protests, while accountability for security-force abuses remained limited.
The government has since taken steps towards addressing some of the abuses.
In June, Ruto received a KNCHR report on compensation for victims of human-rights violations between 2017 and 2025 and announced that the government had set aside Sh2 billion for compensation.
The report cited extrajudicial killings, torture, abductions, enforced disappearances and other violations.
Yet the President’s constitutional message also comes at a time when questions over the relationship between the Executive and Judiciary remain politically sensitive.
Ruto devoted a substantial section of his speech to the role of courts, asking how Kenya can preserve judicial review without unnecessarily paralysing legitimate government action.
He questioned how courts should distinguish between determining constitutionality and making policy choices that belong to elected institutions.
The President, however, insisted that judicial independence is “non-negotiable”, saying courts must remain free to interpret the Constitution, protect rights and invalidate unlawful government action.
“Where government acts unlawfully, it must obey the courts and correct its course,” he said.
That declaration provides an important benchmark against which the administration’s own record can be judged, particularly amid criticism from lawyers, civil society groups and opposition figures over alleged failures by State agencies to comply with court orders.
Ruto’s broader message was that constitutionalism cannot be reduced to institutional procedures.
“Ultimately, we must account for outcomes,” he said, arguing that Kenya must measure constitutional implementation by whether it protects human dignity, safeguards public resources, preserves constitutional order and brings rights within the reach of ordinary citizens.
He also defended the need for public order, drawing a distinction between peaceful protesters and people who commit crimes during demonstrations.
The Constitution, he said, protects peaceful and unarmed assembly but does not protect arson, looting, violence, intimidation or destruction of property.
“Rights and responsibilities are not enemies,” Ruto said. “Responsibility protects the conditions in which everyone’s rights can be enjoyed.”
The central tension in Thursday’s celebration, however, was difficult to miss: the same Constitution whose promise the government was celebrating also imposes obligations on the government itself.
Article 37 protects peaceful assembly, while constitutional principles require public institutions to respect the rule of law and judicial authority.
As Kenya marks 16 years since the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, the question is therefore not simply whether the country has built institutions capable of invoking the Constitution, but whether those institutions—including the Executive—consistently abide by the limits it imposes on power.
Ruto concluded his address by saying the Constitution belongs to everyone and that its authority binds everyone.
“Kenya Yetu, Wajibu Wetu—Tuwajibike,” he said.
