On Saturday, February 7, 2026, the Office of the Attorney General took to social media to celebrate their newly established Very Very Important Persons (VVIP) Lounge for hosting civil marriage ceremonies.
The post described the ceremony that had just taken place as “a significant step” in enhancing the quality of service delivery at the office, while creating a more personalised and respectful experience for couples choosing to formalise their unions through civil marriage.
“The facility, set up ahead of the Valentine's season, is designed to provide a dignified, serene and welcoming environment for the solemnisation of unions”, the post read, concluding rather comically:
“The establishment of the VVIP Lounge reflects the Office’s broader commitment to continuous improvement, citizen-centred services and the creation of spaces that uphold the dignity and importance of key life milestones.”
Except for the oddly synthetic flowers (Kenya produces a lot of flowers), which adorned the aisle, everything else looked well put together in crisp white. You could tell that a lot of effort had gone into making the facility appeal to the select group of users, the VVIPs.
I was not going to pick on the VVIP branding of the facility, until I noticed that the post was almost gloating over this reference. Granted, I have never heard Attorney General Dorcas Oduor market it as such in the many public references she has made about improved services at the marriage registry.
A distinguished legal mind, principal legal advisor to the government and titular head of the Kenyan bar, the Attorney General knows better than most of us that Article 10 of the constitution binds her to mind equality, non-discrimination and social justice in making public policy decisions.
She would therefore be knowing how mischievous it sounds to suggest that the only way to access top-tier, quality government services in a society as unequal as ours would be to activate one’s VVIP status.
Often this entails opening wallets and paying a premium for them.
Conversely, it would mean that the non-VVIPs – ordinary VIPs and ordinary mortals included – would get average services, devoid of the dignity, pomp and colour available for deep pockets.
Beyond the VVIP matter, however, is the question of the performance of the office’s substantive mandate under Article 156 of the constitution. The principal mandate of the AG is to advise the government on legal matters and to represent the government in legal proceedings.
This is largely the reason why the office exists, and also why it is the country’s biggest law firm. The principal mandate of the AG is not, and cannot be, the conduct of marriages as much as the constitution recognises family as a fundamental unit of society.
This mandate is certainly not in the 35 functions assigned to the national government by the Fourth Schedule of the constitution. It may very well be undertaken by the 47 counties under their cultural activities function. Counties are also closer to the people.
The national government has bigger problems to deal with. In the last few years, virtually every other significant government move, decision or policy has found its way into the courts.
Late last year, the recruitment of 10,000 police officers to bolster security was caught up in a legal quagmire. The latest is the fate that has befallen the multitude of presidential advisers, riding on the similar fate of Chief Administrative Secretaries.
More often than not, these policy pronouncements have been overturned, were suspended or delayed by long litigation. Lack of public participation, unconstitutional procedures and right violations have featured prominently in these challenges.
We have witnessed the government defending the indefensible in court, and paying a heavy price for it. Media reports are replete with these embarrassing losses.
There is a lot of work to be done to ensure that government decisions, pronouncements and actions pass the test of the law ahead of deployment. There is a lot more work to be done in court of correcting the mess brought about by state officers who slept through the 2010 revolution
The Office of the AG would do better to focus on these rather than on setting up a VVIP lounge.
Musau, an Advocate of the High Court, is a Senior Project Manager with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and member, Media Complaints Commission. The views expressed here are his own
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