Sixteen years ago, on 27 August 2010, we gave ourselves a new constitutional order. We promulgated the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 with a promise that sovereignty would no longer be treated as the property of those who occupy State House, Parliament or government offices. Today, as we celebrate sixteen years of that Constitution, we must ask ourselves an uncomfortable question: Have we truly transferred power to the people, or have we simply changed the language while preserving the old habits of power? The 2010 Constitution was not designed to make leaders powerful. It was designed to make Kenyans sovereign. Article 1 is unequivocal: all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya. Government is supposed to exercise that power on behalf of the people, not against them. Yet we are witnessing a dangerous pattern where those in power increasingly resist scrutiny, accountability and legitimate public criticism. Instead of treating citizens as the owners of the State, some in power behave as though citizens are subjects who must seek permission to question authority. When political authority begins to fear the people, it reaches for the instruments of coercion. We have seen a disturbing deployment of the police in ways that make the Service appear less like a constitutional institution protecting citizens and more like a roaming militia for political convenience. That is not the Kenya we voted for in 2010. The police belong to the people. They are not the private security detail of a political class. Their constitutional duty is to protect life, uphold the law and respect human dignity. They must never become an instrument for intimidating citizens, suppressing dissent or manipulating the democratic process. Sixteen years after promulgation, therefore, the question is not whether we have a beautiful Constitution. We do. The question is whether we have the political courage to implement it. We must also confront the manner in which elections are conducted. The Maina Kiai principle was supposed to settle a fundamental question: elections belong to voters. The will of the voter must be protected at every stage of the electoral process, and the final result must emerge from the people rather than from administrative manipulation. But seasoned politicians have repeatedly shown reluctance to fully embrace a system where citizens, rather than political brokers, determine who governs them. That is why Kenyans must take the lead. We must become the first line of defence for our democracy. We must know our polling stations. We must understand the electoral process. We must protect our votes. We must demand transparent counting, accurate tallying and accountable institutions. Your vote is not a favour you give to a politician. It is an expression of your sovereign power. If we are serious about defending the 2010 Constitution, we must stop treating constitutional rights as decorations that we remember once every five years. The Constitution must live in our police stations. It must live in our courts. It must live in Parliament. It must live in our counties. It must live in our elections. Most importantly, it must live in the everyday relationship between the Kenyan citizen and the State. At SAFINA Party, we believe that the answer to abuse of power is not another political arrangement among the same political class. The answer is to return power to where the Constitution says it belongs: to the people. That is why we advocate for institutions that are directly and meaningfully accountable to citizens. That is why we support reforms that separate policing from political control and strengthen civilian oversight. A democracy cannot survive when citizens fear the institutions that are supposed to protect them. A constitutional republic cannot function when leaders are selected through political arrangements rather than genuinely elected by citizens.