Ekuru Aukot: Katiba Day means nothing without accountability for protest killings
By Cynthia Lodite, August 28, 2025Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot has called out President William Ruto’s implementation of the Katiba Day celebration, stating that he failed to uphold the constitution during recent Gen Z demonstrations across the country.
Aukot, while accusing the government of failing to respect the constitution, stated that Ruto’s order of shoot to kill during the Gen Z protests was a huge disrespect of the constitution.
He made his remarks on Wednesday, August 27, 2025, during an interview with a local media house as Kenya celebrates 15 years since the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.
“The recent Gen Z demonstrations, they were invoking Article 37 of the Constitution, but it’s the same government that went ahead to give orders of shoot to kill. I was hoping that today, being Katiba Day, we would begin to talk about accountability on the events that followed the protests,” Aukot said.
Aukot called out Members of Parliament to take action in ensuring accountability in governance by following up on Ruto and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen’s remarks over Gen Z nationwide protests.
“What is Parliament doing on the actions of President William Ruto and of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen? Shouldn’t William Ruto and Murkomen by now be impeached?” he added.
Rights groups’ remarks on Parliament failure
As Aukot calls out the National Assembly, other rights groups have also strongly criticised Parliament for failing to play its watchdog role as the country marked its first-ever Katiba Day.
Speaking at the Democracy and Digital Innovation Conference 2025 on Wednesday, August 27, the Executive Director of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Eric Mukoya, said Kenyans must reflect on the promises of the 2010 Constitution and question how far the country has strayed.
“Fifteen years ago, on the 27th of August 2010, our nation stood at the edge of history. In one resounding moment, after decades of struggle, pain, and sacrifice, we proclaimed to ourselves and to the world that Kenya would be governed under a new social contract, a constitution that promised to heal the wounds of our past and chart a path towards a just, equitable, and democratic society,” he said.
Mukoya added that the 2010 Constitution was meant to cure poor leadership and governance, but instead Kenyans ended up with leaders who have ignored integrity and the values of leadership.
“In the promise, we sought to cure poor leadership and governance. But what did we get? Legislators and the Executive, save for a few, who pay no respect to integrity and tenets of leadership. Heads of institutions whose fidelity to Article 10 is unbelievably contemptuous. Services serving tokenism, opportunities driven by patronage and anchored on nepotism. We birthed new marginalisation,” he said.
Mukoya criticised the practice of recycling election losers and political allies into government positions, saying it undermines the will of the people.
“We have recycled election losers and other political nemesis into executive positions of power, undermining critical decisions of the electorate, an expense so annoying and excruciating,” he said.