New Constitution began being tested on the day it was promulgated
Mr Peter Mbwika Muli and Mr Francis Kanyare Kihara were brought before a Nairobi court on Monday August 30, 2010 where they refused to plead to a charge of taking part in an unlawful assembly on August 27 on Muindi Mbingu Street, Nairobi. They argued the new Constitution allows them to demonstrate. They were released on Sh1,000 cash bail each until September 3, when the case will be mentioned.
This piece of news would seem like many of the cases that pass through the grinding mill that is Kenya’s justice system if it was not for the backdrop of this case, in which the accused are represented by Senior Counsel Paul Muite. The two were arrested from a group of people that the police dispersed on August 27, 2010 as they demonstrated against the presence of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir at a ceremony to promulgate Kenya’s new Constitution that same day. This should come as no surprise: besides a change in values, which many have called for, the new Constitution will come alive and be vindicated in the courts. As expected, the case has caught the attention of the mainstream media and some blogs.
At a post-referendum strategy meeting for KCSSP partners, held on August 12 (just days after the successful referendum) many of the participants were in an upbeat mood, but also understood the need for vigilance as implementation gets underway. It should be interesting to see how the police reconcile the Penal Code’s provisions on unlawful assembly with the new Constitution’s liberal civil rights provisions - many of which came into effect on the very day that Peter and Francis were arrested following a peaceful protest on a matter of public interest.