AG Oduor to audit laws

Attorney General, Dorcas Oduor has set in motion a comprehensive process to audit laws, as part of addressing persistent governance gaps in the legal system.

As the  AG launched the Multisectoral Committee on Legislative Reform and Alignment yesterday, she cited the presence of statutes and statutory provisions on the country’s law books that have been invalidated by courts but remain unamended, unrepealed, or unaligned.

She insisted that a cohesive legal framework is the foundation of economic progress, social justice, and political stability, adding that aligning laws with the Constitution will reduce litigation, protect public resources, and build a more predictable legal environment for Kenyans.

Preliminary analysis has shown that the most affected laws are in the area of criminal justice, electoral law, finance and taxation.

“Some 16 years ago, Kenyans gifted themselves progressive, transformative and robust law, the Constitution of Kenya 2010. That constitution radically redefined our government's architecture, administrative structures and commitment to human rights and the rule of law. Under Article 156 of the Constitution of Kenya, the  Attorney General is the principal advisor to the government, charged with defending the rule of law and defending the public interest,” she said.

She made the remarks yesterday in her office, flanked by Solicitor General Shadrack Mose and the committee members, who will be led by the Kenya Law Reforms Commission (KLRC) Chairperson Christine Agimba.

To ensure seamless operational efficiency, the Secretariat will be drawn jointly from the Office of the Attorney General and the KLRC.

When the High Court, Court of Appeal, or Supreme Court declares a statute or section unconstitutional under Article 2(4), Oduor said that provision becomes null and void to the extent of its inconsistency.

But she explained that court decisions alone do not automatically clean up the physical text of the laws of Kenya, saying that this responsibility falls on the Executive and Parliament.

To this end, she said an audit of court decisions reveals a concerning trend where a significant portion of statutes and regulations have not kept pace with this transformation while dozens of provisions struck down by the Judiciary remain intact in legislative texts because follow-up legislative action was never completed.

She regretted that this mismatch has created a state of legal uncertainty, generated implementation bottlenecks for government institutions, and fragmented laws in addition to exposing the government to costly and avoidable constitutional disputes, ultimately, hindering the seamless delivery of justice to the citizens of Kenya, hence the step taken to correct this.

“This committee is not just another administrative task force. It is envisioned as a seminal, inter-institutional engine room designed to modernize Kenya’s legal architecture, protect constitutionalism, and ensure our laws serve the contemporary public interest. To ensure this process is legally sound and broadly representative, we have brought together the finest minds from across our legal and governance landscape,” she said.

She charged the Committee to undertake a comprehensive, meticulous review focused on four core pillars, which include reviewing judicial jurisprudence by systematically evaluating all statutory provisions and subsidiary legislation that have been declared unconstitutional, invalid, or inconsistent by courts of competent jurisdiction.

They have been tasked with purging the Statute book where they have been tasked to identify and recommend the repeal of obsolete, redundant, or spent laws that no longer serve any practical legal or administrative purpose.

The committee will seek to bridge legislative gaps towards addressing the structural and policy gaps that have emerged over time due to constitutional, judicial, and institutional developments.

Their fourth mandate will be to harmonize the framework by formulating concrete legislative, policy, and administrative interventions—including proposals for repeal, amendment, consolidation, or fresh enactment—to align laws with contemporary governance standards.

“The task ahead of you requires intellectual rigor, collaborative goodwill, and an unyielding commitment to the public interest. You are the custodians of our statutory integrity. Modernizing our laws requires transparency, and we look forward to keeping the public informed of our progress as we systematically clean up our statute book,” she stated.

Agimba said provisions declared unconstitutional, invalid or otherwise incapable of implementation while others are outdated, obsolete or generally misaligned with the constitution, the governance and administrative architecture established in the current constitution, ultimately creating a state of uncertainty.

“Noting that the Commission's statutory mandate is to keep law under review and make recommendations for its reform, the concerns that highlighted are shared by KLRC. We agree that the continued existence of laws that courts have found unconstitutional or that may be obsolete is not merely a technical legal issue, but it's one that affects citizens who need to be assured that there are clear and consistent laws that protect their rights and obligations,” she explained.

She said they have submitted a report on a preliminary analysis on the provisions of the law that have been declared unconstitutional by the courts, and those that are potentially obsolete.

According to Agimba, the analysis on the provisions of laws declared unconstitutional covers 64 judicial decisions determined between 2014 and 2024 and which have made determinations across 50 distinct statutes and four statutory instruments, and approximately 128 statutory provisions or instruments.

“These decisions largely concern infringements of key constitutional guarantees, including public participation, equality and non-discrimination, political rights, fair administrative action, fair trial rights, children's rights, separation of power, and institutional independence,” she explained.

She also said the preliminary analysis has identified 42 statutes that may have become obsolete but are still in the statute books, which may be laws that have been superseded by the Constitution or subsequent legislation, or laws that have established institutions that no longer exist and laws that set up historical loans, guarantees, and spent obligations.

“The findings of our analysis are preliminary and we are hopeful that, or the intention is that through the committee that you have set up, we will be able to validate these findings and then make recommendations as you have tasked us to do, that will clearly spell out which laws need to be retained, amended, consolidated, or replaced,” she explained.

“This assignment is substantial and is a continuing national undertaking, one that will call for sustained intellectual expertise, reliable legal information, a technological capacity as we go through the data, and adequate human resource and financial support. The committee presents an important opportunity to consolidate the capacities required to strengthen the collaborative and consultative institutional arrangements that support the objectives of this assignment.”

The outcome will involve recommendations around amending, repealing or replacing the laws, and only Parliament can make that final determination.

She said public institutions should know there are harmonised and clear laws when they administer them and businesses depend on a stable and a predictable regulatory framework and when laws are unclear or inconsistent, legal uncertainty does create concern.

Kenyans have been urged to participate in this process, with the AG saying should there be any laws they have found challenging as they continue with their work, which seem to affect their rights and obligations, they should alert the committee.

The committee seeks to conduct its preliminary assessment, which is review of the judgments, evaluating the laws within three months, after which they commence the exercise of determining what the legislative responses will be, and that is where public participation comes in.