Today, we joined Civil Society Organisations, human rights defenders, citizens and other stakeholders to mark #KatibaAt16, themed: The People’s Power, Constitutionalism and Democracy Ahead of 2027.”
As Kenya continues to experience political mobilisation along ethnic and other identity lines, which could fuel tension, exclusion, and electoral violence, our Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation (PBCT) Platform Manager at Act! Elizabeth Atieno Rombo reflected on key actions that must be taken now, before the 2027 campaign period intensifies, to prevent political violence and promote peaceful, issue-based, and inclusive democratic participation:

🎯Make the election process predictable to boost institutional trust and confidence – Citizens will not trust a process they cannot see coming. Election preparedness needs to be a continuous, interactive engagement, or anxiety will fill the gap.
🎯Stop treating hate speech as politics as usual; they are early crimes that must be contained – Incitement and intimidation are not campaign-style. Enforce the code of conduct early and cohesion laws, with parties signing a peace charter before nominations, with dire consequences to those who contravene the charter.
🎯 Fix party nominations – Kenya’s ugliest pre-election fights happen inside political parties: disputed registers, imposed candidates, and gender rule evasion. Political parties must strengthen internal democracy, run transparent primaries and implement the 2/3 principle.
🎯Shift the public conversation toward issues while the audience is still listening, and link them to issues already prioritised by the people while also mitigating fragmented coordination among electoral governance, peace, security, and CSOs.
🎯Strengthen local peace systems where violence actually occurs – Local early warning and early response, and mediation frameworks should be working now, especially where electoral conflict risks are higher. Prevention is cheaper than recovery.
🎯Digital spaces must be treated as part of the electoral peace environment with young people as primary targets – Actors should build digital resilience actively through participatory narrative monitoring, verification, and constructive digital dialogue to complement conventional civic education.

Defending the constitution demands sustained action to protect civic space, strengthen institutions, promote peaceful participation and ensure accountability.