A trust deficit between Kenyans and the State is the main cause of current skirmishes, President William Ruto’s constitutional affairs advisor Makau Mutua has said.
The professor of law said the elephant in the room that needs addressing is trust, which he argued would be dealt with by three new Bills submitted by the Attorney General Dorcas Oduor to Parliament for consideration.
This came as the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo made a passionate plea for opposition leaders to stop calling youths to the streets, and the government to stop killing them.
Prof Makau and Ms Odhiambo were speaking yesterday during a sensitisation session on the Public Participation Bill, 2025, the Whistleblower Protection Bill, 2025, and the Anti-Corruption Amendment Bill, 2025.
“We all know there is a trust deficit between the State, the government and the people, and that is why you see the restlessness you have seen…Our senior officials appear to flaunt their wealth and poke people in the eye,” said Makau.
He said Gen-Zs rightly and correctly want an accountable government, free of impunity, corruption and exhibitionism.
“This is what these bills seek to address. When these things happen, these folks who are abusing public trust can be held to account,” said Makau.
On the other hand, Odhiambo said all Kenyans want is to be at the table and be governed in a clear and transparent manner.
She argued that there is need to embed public participation in internal planning, budgeting and decision making while accommodating marginalised groups, women, youth and persons with disability.
She argued that the import of the Bill is that power is not in the hands of the Parliament and Executive but on the Kenyans.
“There comes a time in our country, there comes a time in our nation that we must call upon on all actors to remember that we have a country guided by the rule of law. And the rule of law demands and behooves ourselves to order that we remember that the country is greater than each and every one of us. In that spirit I ask that its high time I ask we sit and have a meeting of minds, no more killings, no more people on the streets… It’s time we have a cease fire,” said Odhiambo.
According to her, the cries, desperation, and the bodies in the morgues mirror the crisis in the country. She said that one would think that Kenya will hold an election in the next month.
“It is time we call a ceasefire on all actors, whether you are in opposition, whether you are in government, Kenya is bigger than any one of you. Stop calling our young men and women in the streets, stop killing our young men and women. I demand that as a nation we call for a ceasefire, that there has to be law and order in our country,” she added.
The LSK President was of the view that if there is no trust in our courts, in the country’s processes, trust in institutions, then Kenya will fall.
“It behooves each every one of us that has this opportunity that has this opportunity of leadership, that we say, it is time that we call cease fire, no more deaths, no more going to the morgues, no more collecting bullets, no more seeing our children in those streets,” she asserted.
The AG, on the other hand, said the Bills would offer a framework under which the people could participate in the governance and development of their country. She stated that some of the issues to be addressed include the expeditious resolution of graft-related cases within six months.
