01/09/2026
A Constitution does not only erode when someone rewrites it. Sometimes erosion happens quietly, one underfunded institution, one shrinking civic space and one unimplemented promise at a time.
On 27 August, Kenya Ni Mimi joined Katiba@16, convened by CFF with ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa and other civil society organisations, for an honest audit of sixteen years of Kenya’s 2010 Constitution.
The conversations went beyond celebration. They examined devolution, the Bill of Rights, public participation, press freedom, electoral integrity, gender representation, public finance accountability and the risk of democratic backsliding.
One statistic captured the challenge sharply: the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights is operating on less than half the resources it requires, with only five regional offices against a mandate for 48.
Constitutional institutions belong to Kenyans. Weakening their capacity weakens the protections available to everyone across the country today.
Through our Uhuru Wetu programme, Project Lead Jewel Ndung’u and Chief Catalyst Samuel Mue led Know Your Constitution, an interactive quiz testing civic knowledge from the Constitution’s 264 Articles to the 4 August 2010 referendum and Kenya’s KSh 13 trillion public debt position as at May 2026.
Jewel followed with a challenge, young people must not be treated as audiences to mobilise after strategies are written. They are organisers, communicators and strategists already shaping civic narratives.
From the floor, our Gen Z representative Victoria connected the energy of 2024 and 2025 to sustained participation through the Niko Kadi voter registration drive ahead of 2027.
The day closed with the Katiba@16 Declaration and Citizen Vow.
Sixteen years on, the message was clear, the Constitution will not defend itself. We must know it, use it, question power through it and insist that its promises become real.
Kenya Ni Mimi. Kenya Ni Wewe. Kenya Ni Sisi Sote.
