Press Statement Regarding the Signing into Law Several Bills that  Undermine Kenya’s Constitution and our Sovereignty

Press Statement Regarding the Signing into Law Several Bills that  Undermine Kenya’s Constitution and our Sovereignty

21 October, 2025 PanAfric Hotel, Nairobi

Fellow Kenyans,

1. In this period of pain, of sorrow, and of hurt, we send our deepest condolences to Mama Ida Odinga and the entire family of Right Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga as well as to the Kenyan people on the demise of an icon, a Pan-Africanist and a fighter for social justice.
2. Let us please bow for a minute of silence in memory of Prime Minister Odinga and to all the Kenyans who died during the funeral arrangements. I thank you.
3. We stand here today as Kenyans who are deeply concerned about the trajectory that the country is taking. A trajectory that is a mockery of the ideals that Rt. Hon. Odinga fought for. A mockery to the 2010 Constitution that we collectively fought to have and swore to protect and implement.

Fellow Kenyans,

4. At exactly the same time that the Nation was grappling with the news of the demise of Right Honourable Odinga, President Ruto was in State House signing into law, not 1 but 8 Bills, some of which are quite draconian. What a shame!
5. They include:

• The Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act.
• The Privatisation Act.
• The Land (Amendment) Act.
• The National Land Commission (Amendment) Act.
• The Wildlife Conservation and Management (Amendment) Act.
• The National Police Service Commission (Amendment) Act.
• The Air Passenger Service Charge (Amendment) Act.
• And the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act.

6. We have carefully reviewed the Bills approved by the National Assembly and signed into law by Ruto. Our questions beloved Kenyans are; when will the Kenyan State decide to work for its people? How dare the Executive and the Parliament boldly betray the Nation and our Sovereign will?
7. Today, we will focus on two laws and amendments touching on our freedoms and sovereignty. For what is a nation without its sovereign assets and its freedoms?
8. First, the amendments to the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes law in essence seeks to control and crush political dissent and protests in the guise of expanding protections from cybercriminals. It is not lost to us that in June 2024 when Kenya’s youth rose up against the Finance Bill, President Ruto labelled them criminals and terrorists. The addition of Section 6 (ja) on the functions of the National Computer Cybercrimes Coordination Committee gives unconstitutional power to this Committee to issue directives to render a website or an app inaccessible for promoting, amongst others, “illegal activities.”
9. Simply put, this unconstitutional Committee can order the closure of any website, blog, mobile app, Facebook, X, Tik Tok, YouTube or Instagram accounts for allegedly promoting “illegal activities.” This expansion of the powers glaringly lacks provisions for sufficient judicial oversight. Moreover, this is a direct affront to the rights to fair administrative action and fair hearing in Articles 47 and 50 of the Constitution. It makes this Committee, the investigator, prosecutor and judge or the final arbiter and overlord on the exercise of our celebrated freedoms of speech and media as provided for in Articles 33 and 34 of Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
10. It is also worth noting that there was limited public participation in the passage of this bill, with only 3 written memoranda with all signatories opposed to the amendments. Unsurprisingly, the MPs yet again ignored the views they received, even from the relevant Ministry. And the President followed suit with signing the amendments into law.
11. These amendments are UNCONSTITUTIONAL. They are null and avoid.
12. We shall not allow the freedoms and rights of free speech, media, fair hearing and fair administrative action to be buried silently with Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga! We are aware that efforts are underway to seek immediate legal redress. We fully endorse these efforts and will render our full support. We also urge all Kenyans to unite in sending home this crop of unaccountable and non-responsive MPs, who are only too willing to be mere voting robots in the National Assembly programmed by the Executive.

13. This confirms my assertion that President Ruto has lost the legitimacy to continue to lead our beloved country.
14. On several occasions, I have stressed that this government is out to outrightly rob Kenyans. This is exactly what the repeal of the Privatisation Act, 2005 is doing. It introduces a privatisation process mainly in the hands of the Executive through the Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) and the Privatisation Authority. It grants the CS Treasury power to create a privatisation programme which may include an unlimited number of public entities earmarked for privatisation.
15. It gives unfettered power to the Cabinet Secretary with Section 22 and 23 requiring in sixty days, to ratify the bundled up privatisation programme by National Assembly. Once approved, the programme is valid for eight years. The most outrageous part of this process is that the ratification request is only to be accompanied by brief descriptions of the entities undergoing privatisation, reasons for privatisation and expected benefits including expected revenue. Crucially, information on the valuation of these public entities is not mandatory to be included in the ratification request by the CS.
16. In a reflection of the rush to sell off our national assets, the National Assembly has only 60 days upon receipt of the privatisation programme to give their decision. Therein, lies the mischief designed in this Act. It is meant to entirely circumvent the necessary elaborate parliamentary oversight and neuter public participation.
17. Moreover, the Act has no provisions built-in to ensure parliamentary oversight regarding implementation of a ratified privatisation programme conducted by the Executive. In fact, the Act even exempts the publication of the names of the buyers if the privatisation is by an initial public offering (IPO). Simply put, if they sell to themselves or proxies, the Kenyan people will not know! Simply put, if they sell strategic assets to foreigners and put them beyond the country’s control, the Kenyan people will not know.
18. What is clear is that Ruto’s government intends to privatise any public entities it wants unchecked until 2032. In its characteristic, inexplicable and bottomless greed, Ruto’s government plans to exit when it has fully auctioned this country’s treasured public entities and without meaningful parliamentary oversight and public participation.
19. The Kenya Kwanza regime is currently borrowing over 5 billion KES per week! As if that is not enough, it wants, in the next 5 years to be on an unchallenged spree of quick-fire sale of public property to crony capitalists and proxies of those in power. Kenyans must overwhelmingly come out and say a big NO! to this egregious grabbing of public resources.
20. The world is scrambling for Africa’s minerals, ports, and lands. Why make our nation vulnerable? Who do you serve? Young Kenyans have already died protesting these injustices. You speak of moving from “third world to first world,” yet you destroy the very foundations of sovereignty. Prosperity will not come by selling our strategic assets but by empowering citizens to work freely and participate in nation-building. A State that cannibalises its institutions betrays its people and our posterity.
21. Laws must protect, not endanger, Kenya’s future. We stand here today to defend the meaning of our nation, to guard the inheritance of those who fought for our freedom, and to protect the birthright of those yet to be born. We remind the State that: Sovereignty belongs to the people of Kenya as clearly stated in Article 1 of the Constitution.
22. The power lies with us, the Sovereign People of Kenya. Not to Parliament. Not to the Executive. Not to foreign investors.

Signed on 21 October 2025 by:

Chief Justice (Emeritus) David Maraga