Government forms multi-sector committee to review unconstitutional laws
Key points
- A multi-sectoral government committee will review obsolete laws and frameworks rendered unconstitutional or inconsistent with the 2010 Constitution.
- The exercise targets statutory clean-up so statute books match court rulings and constitutional text.
- Success depends on parliamentary follow-through, not only a committee report that gathers dust.
Kenya’s statute book still carries ghosts from before 2010. KNA reports that the government has established a multi-sectoral committee to review obsolete laws and statutory frameworks that have been rendered unconstitutional or are inconsistent with the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
Courts regularly strike or read down provisions; implementation often lags. Police, county officers and regulators can keep enforcing dead or dying clauses until someone updates the official text. A dedicated clean-up committee is how states convert judgments into usable law for the street-level bureaucrat.
What “multi-sectoral” must include
Attorney-General chambers, Kenya Law Reform Commission expertise, parliamentary counsel, and affected ministries. Civil society and the private sector should see draft repeal lists early — especially business licensing and criminal provisions that chill investment or free expression.
The committee’s value is a prioritised bill schedule: which Acts to repeal, which to amend, which court orders already operate as law even if the Gazette is silent. Without National Assembly time, the report becomes another PDF.
Public stake
Ordinary Kenyans meet the statute book at the police station, land office and county licensing desk. Constitutionalism fails when those desks still quote repealed power.
Justice contacts: directory.
Based on KNA reporting of the committee’s establishment; terms of reference may be published separately.