President William Ruto has gazetted Katiba Day– a day ostensibly meant to celebrate Kenya’s Constitution and the strides made since inauguration.Today , Kenya stands at a constitutional crossroads at the time when the document is facing defilement abuse.

On the surface, this sounds noble. After all, the 2010 Constitution remains one of the most progressive charters on the African continent, hailed for its elaborate Bill of Rights, devolution framework, and checks on State power.

The irony is too thick to ignore. The man proclaiming Katiba Day is the same head of State who has, time and again, been accused of trampling on the very document he now seeks to sanctify.

From the preamble to the last chapter, Kenyans have witnessed consistent and deliberate violations of the Constitution under his watch.

The Bill of Rights , which is the soul of our Constitution – has been reduced to a paper promise.Freedoms of expression, assembly, and association have faced systematic assault. Peaceful protests have been met with brute police force with the head of state asking the police to shoot demonstrators at the glare of the cameras.

Citizens exercising their right to dissent have been labeled enemies of the State. Journalists and civil society actors continue to report harassment and intimidation.

Most chilling are the documented cases of abductions, enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings.

Families across Kenya still search for loved ones who vanished after being picked up by masked state agents.

Activists, student leaders, and political critics live in constant fear. The government’s silence – and in some cases outright denial – only deepens the wound.

The President has never apologized to the families of victims who have suffered from state’s excesses.He has not accounted for the lives lost. Instead, he now seeks to lead Kenyans in celebrating a Constitution that promises dignity, justice, and protection for all.

A true celebration of the Constitution should come from a place of fidelity to its principles, not as a convenient public relations stunt. How can a leader who presides over the erosion of constitutional freedoms turn around and declare a holiday to honor them. That’s an irony of the greatest magnitude.

Katiba Day risks becoming an empty ritual – a day of speeches and rhetoric divorced from the lived reality of citizens. Unless the government commits to upholding the Constitution in practice, this gazettement is nothing more than political theatre.

Kenyans do not need another public holiday.

They need justice and closure for victims of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings and a free civic space where citizens can speak, protest, and assemble without fear.

If President Ruto truly wants to honor the Constitution, let him start by apologizing to victims of State abuses. Let him dismantle the culture of impunity and restore faith in the rule of law. Only then will a Katiba Day carry any meaning.

Until that day comes, Kenyans will rightly see this move for what it is: a hollow spectacle, an insult to the memory of those whose lives have been lost in the struggle for constitutionalism, and a grim reminder of how far we still are from the promises of 2010.