Kenyan Constitution: The Right to Assemble, Demonstrate and Picket

Rights and fundamental freedoms

Article 37

Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities.

Article 38

(1) Every citizen is free to make political choices, which includes the right–

(a) to form, or participate in forming a political party;
(b) to participate in the activities of, or recruit members for, a political party; or
(c) to campaign for a political party or cause.

(2) Every citizen has the right to free, fair and regular elections based on universal suffrage and the free expression of the will of the electors for–

(a) any elective public body or office established under this Constitution; or
(b) any office of any political party of which the citizen is a member.

(3) Every adult citizen has the right, without unreasonable restrictions, —

(a) to be registered as a voter;
(b) to vote by secret ballot in any election or referendum; and
(c) to be a candidate for public office, or office within a political party of which the citizen is a member and, if elected, to hold office.

Article 39

1. Every person has the right to freedom of movement.
   (2) Every person has the right to leave Kenya.
   (3) Every citizen has the right to enter, remain in and reside anywhere in Kenya.

Article 40

(1) Subject to Article 65, every person has the right, either individually or in association with others, to acquire and own property–

(a) of any description; and
(b) in any part of Kenya.

(2) Parliament shall not enact a law that permits the State or any person–

(a) to arbitrarily deprive a person of property of any description or of any interest in, or right over, any property of any description; or
(b) to limit, or in any way restrict the enjoyment of any right under this Article on the basis of any of the grounds specified or contemplated in Article 27 (4).

(3) The State shall not deprive a person of property of any description, or of any interest in, or right over, property of any description, unless the deprivation–

(a) results from an acquisition of land or an interest in land or a conversion of an interest in land, or title to land, in accordance with Chapter Five; or
(b) is for a public purpose or in the public interest and is carried out in accordance with this Constitution and any Act of Parliament that–

(i) requires prompt payment in full, of just compensation to the person; and
(ii) allows any person who has an interest in, or right over, that property a right of access to a court of law.

(4) Provision may be made for compensation to be paid to occupants in good faith of land acquired under clause (3) who may not hold title to the land.
(5) The State shall support, promote and protect the intellectual property rights of the people of Kenya.
(6) The rights under this Article do not extend to any property that has been found to have been unlawfully acquired.
Read:

• Kenyan Constitution: Chapter Four, Part 2, Articles 34 to 36
• Kenyan Constitution: Chapter Four, Part 2, Articles 29 to 33