• Through a Gazette Notice dated August 25, 2025, the President affirmed that Katiba Day will be observed across Kenya and in all diplomatic missions abroad as a day to renew the country’s shared commitment to constitutional ideals, foster national dialogue, and reflect on the rule of law.

Fifteen years after the birth of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the country stands at a moral and civic inflection point.

That is why President William Ruto’s declaration of August 27 as Katiba Day, summons the nation to ask: What have we done with the promise of 2010?

Through a Gazette Notice dated August 25, 2025, the President affirmed that Katiba Day will be observed across Kenya and in all diplomatic missions abroad as a day to renew the country’s shared commitment to constitutional ideals, foster national dialogue, and reflect on the rule of law.

Importantly, Katiba Day will remain a working day. But it will not be business as usual.

“All government institutions in the three arms of government and two levels of governance, including schools, shall organize, hold, and participate in solemn civic activities on that day to foster constitutional awareness and civic engagement,” the Gazette reads.

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The Constitution of Kenya, 2010, born out of a national referendum, replaced the 1969 constitution and ushered in a new era of accountability, devolution, and citizen empowerment. It was a response to decades of centralized power, electoral violence, and human rights violations. It promised a new social contract, one anchored in dignity, equity, and justice.

Yet fifteen years on, the country finds itself at a crossroads. Kenya remains under international scrutiny for human rights violations, including abductions and deadly protests. The Bill of Rights, once hailed as a beacon of hope, is too often ignored in practice. The constitutional promise feels distant, diluted.

President Ruto’s declaration of Katiba Day is a noble beginning; a gesture that invites the nation to pause, reflect, and chart a way forward. But it must go beyond ceremony.

The President must lead this reform journey by ensuring that constitutional mandates are not only respected but actively upheld. That civic spaces are protected. That institutions serve the people. That the Constitution is not treated as a relic, but as a living document.

Let the nation sit down. Let it ask hard questions. Let it recommit to the ideals that birthed the 2010 Constitution. Because Katiba Day is not just about remembrance, it is about renewal.