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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Security chiefs must protect the Constitution at all times

Opinion

By Barrack Muluka | Mar 30, 2025

MP Peter Salasya attacked. (Courtesy/Peter Salasya)

I will leave Odera and Emanyulia alone for now. We shall revisit them later. You recall the man who alleged that his cow was stolen, but was quick to join the presumed rustler? He joined the thief at a meat eating party, to enjoy the stolen animal’s intestines.

That they are now bosom friends is behind us. They enjoy stolen meat as we salivate. But give them time. We have the dismissal of Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi to grapple with. There is the clobbering of MP Peter Salasya to wonder about, and President William Ruto’s odysseys across the country to try to understand. We have Raila Odinga’s peace mission in South Sudan to pray about. Then there are efforts to reconstitute the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to watch. Election theft often begins here. We cannot handle all of these concerns.

There are rumours to gauge. Is there a State favourite in the IEBC making process? Do Kenyans need assurance that there are no blue-eyed boys, and no favourite lady? Do Kenyans need, especially, to be reassured that the selection panel has no instructions from above? That a certain lady, for example, must chair the commission? That certain cowboys must make it to the commission?

Salasya was beaten up. He was almost thrown into the dustbin, at Nyayo Stadium. As he could not fit in the bin, they threw the thing at him. The vocal Mumias East MP says his assailants wanted to kill him, on account of his incessant trenchant criticisms of ODM leader, Raila Odinga. Salasya, previously an ardent Raila supporter, now says the ODM leader has betrayed the opposition. He has begun a campaign to shove ODM and Raila out of Luhya Western Kenya.

Salasya can be quite intemperate, and it is rather difficult to tell what, exactly, went on at Nyayo Stadium. He was there to watch a match between the Harambee Stars and Gabon’s national team, in the World Cup qualifiers. What we know is we have seen pictures of the man being clobbered and frogmarched out of the stadium. We have also seen him bare chested, looking like one who has been properly sorted out.

Keep Reading business

Be unafraid

Salasya was manhandled as senior State officers watched. Some allegedly howled and encouraged the assailants. Is it true that the violence against the MP had their pre-planned blessings? Why have they said nothing about the attack, by the time of this writing? Do we read here an attempt to silence dissent? Do we seem to have travelled on this slippery road before? Whatever the answers, Kenyans need to be unafraid, for their democratic space is in danger. Indeed, uniformed officers have come out of their own barricaded spaces, to warn Kenyans against saying things like President “Ruto must go.”

These top persons in the disciplined forces say they will “protect the Constitution of Kenya (2010), on how government is formed, and office vacated and power passed on.” This is good to know. Every Kenyan of goodwill must agree with them. The Constitution is sacrosanct. It is edifying to hear that the Kenya Defence Forces Chief say the military will defend the Constitution.

What has not been said, however, is protection of the Constitution against the present unlawful joint Executive that has been formed by Raila and President Ruto. What the two leaders have done is against Articles 3(1) and 3(2) of the Constitution. Article 3(1) says, “Every person has an obligation to respect, uphold and defend this Constitution.” And 3(2) reads, “Any attempt to establish a government otherwise than in compliance with this Constitution is unlawful.”

Where does this leave those who say they are protecting the Constitution? Then there is the grapevine about the IEBC being stage-managed to lead to manipulated presidential elections and, therefore, to forming government outside a proper democratic constitutional order. Now that they have elected to speak, the Chief of the Defence Forces, Charles Kahariri, and the National Intelligence Service Boss, Noor Haji, must go the whole hog. When will they protect the Constitution and when will they not?

When Article 3(2) is abused by their appointing authority, do they also need to protect it? When an MP is beaten up for being critical of the government, does the Constitution need protection by Noor and Kahariri? When the Speaker of the National Assembly is also a party leader, and the courts rule this as unconstitutional, does the Constitution not require protection by State security officers? Is protection of the Constitution by these authorities, selective?

-Dr Muluka is a strategic communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke