How well do you know the Kenyan Constitution? Unless you are a lawyer, I bet the only thing you know is that on August 27th 2010 President Mwai Kibaki Promulgated a new constitution in Kenya. Probably you also know that the constitution has things like “National Values”, “Bill of Rights”, and “Schedules”.
At one point since August 2010 you must have had a desire to know the Kenyan Constitution beyond the basics. The desire to know what Article 210 actually says whenever a constitution expert like Charles Nyachae mentions it in a TV Interview, or when a friend insists that the new constitution prohibits come-we-stay relationships and you are not sure whether it is the new constitution or the Marriage Act 2014 that prohibit the same or none of the above. Same thing happens when you find yourself in an a debate requiring knowledge of biblical verses, verses that your brain can’t recall, verses you have never heard of, yet you attend church services every Sunday. If you don’t know your bible I have no advice for you but if you don’t know your constitution, that’s something that should get you worried, and be stressed over.
You could have tried to bridge the gap in your knowledge by going through the html version of the constitution or you downloaded the PDF version, but after reading halfway through the Preamble you gave up as the number of pages you had to go through discouraged continued reading. Don’t curse yourself, most of us, being Kenyans, must have done the same. I have done better, I have gone through all the way past Article 10 but trust me, I remember nothing between the Preamble and that article.
That’s why you should shout in excitement with the news that you no longer need to worry about how much you don’t know about the Kenyan Constitution. This is because the same way you can pull up biblical verses on the go on your mobile phone, someone by the name Brian Osoro thought that you should be able to access any Chapter, Article or Schedule whenever you hear it mentioned, anywhere, from the comfort of your smartphone.
With over 60,000 downloads to date, Osoro’s Kenyan Constitution App promises to enable you master your constitution by making it easier for you to get whatever part of the constitution you are interested in. If you are on Android and you are already excited about the App, rush here to download it or search for Kenyan Constitution from Google Play.
After you have downloaded the Kenyan Constitution App you will be able to browse through the following interfaces as you enjoy reading the Kenyan Constitution. If you are impressed or you want to suggest improvements, you can reach Mr. Osoro via his website; the website is well, unpleasant.
First Interface
The first interface allows you to chose what section of the Kenyan Constitution you want to go to. Do you want to check the entire Chapter? Or you just want to go strait to an Article? The choice is yours.
Interface 2 and the rest
From home Interface, choose any tile and you’ll land at an interface similar to what we have above, be it Chapters, Articles, or the Preamble. These interfaces allow you to scroll down to the Chapter or Article that you want to jump to. If you go inside a chapter or Article, you will also be allowed to search for specific terms. Enjoy.
Two Issues
Just the same way I have told you to reach out to Mr. Osoro to suggest improvements if you have any, I have also reached out to him to work on two things:
- Design
- Back button
The design is okay but it can be better. He can make those tiles look a little more enticing and magical. On back button, you will realize that if you are in an Interface like “Chapters”, pressing the back button asks you whether you want to exit the App instead of taking you back to previous Interface or Home Interface. Same issue I had with WhatsApp and I still do (see The annoying features of WhatsApp article). Not cool at all.
Otherwise I hope as many of you as have read this article will be above average in matters Kenyan Constitution in the next several days. Next time Charles Nyachae mentions Article 137, get hold of your smartphone, go straight to that Article, and read it in seconds.
