- Ruto also used the opportunity to express the government’s commitment to strengthening the office of AG to ensure it performs its functions accordingly.
- He cited the bill recently signed into Law which he noted will enable it perform its duties effectively.
President William Ruto on Tuesday launched the 24th annual supplement of the Laws of Kenya. https://rb.gy/ja4c90
Image: COURTESY
President William Ruto on Tuesday launched the 24th annual supplement of the Laws of Kenya.
The supplement was published by the office of the Attorney General in partnership with the Kenya Law, the first time in 28 years.
It is being done in accordance with the Revision of the Laws Act (Cap.1) and contains the revised editions of the Laws of Kenya for the period 1995-2022.
The launch is being done pursuant to the powers of revision conferred on the Attorney General and delegated to the National Council for Law Reporting vide Legal Notice 29 of 2009.
Speaking during the event, Ruto noted that apart from being pivotal to the commitment to uphold the rule of law, the supplement ensures the legal framework remains effective and accessible to all Kenyans.
This edition, he added, features a body of laws that have been aligned with the bottom up economic transformative vision.
“The annual supplement is necessary because it enables our legal system to meet the contemporary challenges and opportunities,” the President said.
“Our laws are the source of legitimate authority for all public actions and the basis of the protection of rights and interests of all citizens,” Ruto added.
Ruto also used the opportunity to express the government’s commitment to strengthening the office of AG to ensure it performs its functions accordingly.
He cited the bill which he recently signed into Law which he noted will go a long way in facilitating it to provide legal advice to the government and provide legal representation on behalf of the public.
“For a very long time the office has been understaffed, under-capacitated and we are paying a heavy price to correct that imbalance,” he said.
The launch, he noted, is important and significant giving Kenyans an occasion to reflect on the powerful, constant and far-reaching influence of the legal system on their lives, and by implication, the role of all public officers charged with legislation, interpretation and implementation in advancing public good.
The outcome of the release of the supplement will be to empower the government at the national and counties as well as the citizens and other critical international stakeholders, to have unhindered access to the updated laws of Kenya.
Ruto stressed the need for the office of the AG to digitise all its operations noting they have already secured money in the budget for the purpose.
This, he said, will greatly improve access to justice and facilitate the doing of business in the country.
He noted that they are also adding funds to the office so that it can hire the requisite staff, and pay them sufficiently.
The contents of the supplement are the Constitution of Kenya, which has been featured for the first time since its promulgation in 2010.
A total of 259 statutes that have been enacted or have come into force, together with subsidiary legislation, since the year 1995 are also contained in the suppliment.
It also has 126 revised editions of statutes which have been substantially amended since the year 1995, revised edition of the accumulative index, which provides an alphabetical tabulation of all Acts of the Laws of Kenya.
It also has a table of contents, which features a list of East African Community legislation.
Additionally, it has the supplement to the Chronological Table (the tabulation of statutes that have been enacted since the last supplement; that is from the year 1995 to December 31, 2022, and results in the listing of statutes that were repealed pre-1995).
It is available in digital format on the e-citizen platform, the Kenya Law website www.kenyalaw.org, and a hard copy at the Government Press.