# Article 49 of the Constitution of Kenya

- Jurisdiction: Kenya (KE)
- Article: 49
- Source document: The Kenya Constitution
- Canonical (HTML): https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/a6f81ea1-c6df-48b4-82b6-eea81ddb94ea
- This document: https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/a6f81ea1-c6df-48b4-82b6-eea81ddb94ea/md
- Constitution: https://www.portablelawyer.app/countries/03fe64e6-7dc2-4959-950b-e59f32a20028

## Verbatim text

````
(a) to be informed promptly, in language that the person
understands, of—
(i) the reason for the arrest;
(ii) the right to remain silent; and
(iii) the consequences of not remaining silent;
(b) to remain silent;
(c) to communicate with an advocate, and other persons whose
assistance is necessary;
(d) not to be compelled to make any confession or admission that
could be used in evidence against the person;
(e) to be held separately from persons who are serving a
sentence;
(f) to be brought before a court as soon as reasonably possible,
but not later than—
(i) twenty-four hours after being arrested; or
(ii) if the twenty-four hours ends outside ordinary court hours,
or on a day that is not an ordinary court day, the end of
the next court day;
(g) at the first court appearance, to be charged or informed of the
reason for the detention continuing, or to be released; and
(h) to be released on bond or bail, on reasonable conditions,
pending a charge or trial, unless there are compelling
reasons not to be released.
(2) A person shall not be remanded in custody for an offence if
the offence is punishable by a fine only or by imprisonment for not
more than six months.
Fair hearing.
````

## What this means (mechanical reading aid, not legal advice)

- The index files this text under article 49 of the Constitution of Kenya.
- The passage runs to about 212 words.
- Read plainly, it mentions fair hearing — it guarantees a fair hearing — a court or tribunal that hears you and decides impartially (the words used: “Fair hearing”); it mentions arrest and detention — it deals with arrest or detention, and the conditions attached to holding a person (the words used: “arrest”).
- **Caveat:** The row’s stored title is a body fragment, not a heading (“(1) An arrested person has the right—”), so it is not used as the provision’s title here.
- **Caveat:** The index gives this passage an article number but stores a body fragment where a heading would be, so the number could not be cross-checked against the text. Check it against the official Constitution before relying on it in a citation.

> This is a mechanical reading aid generated from the text above by matching words in it. It is not legal advice, not a lawyer’s interpretation, and not a substitute for the provision itself.

## How to cite this

Constitution of Kenya, article 49, Portable Lawyer, https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/a6f81ea1-c6df-48b4-82b6-eea81ddb94ea (accessed 25 October 2026).

## Related

- [Constitution of Kenya](https://www.portablelawyer.app/countries/03fe64e6-7dc2-4959-950b-e59f32a20028)
- [Kenya on Portable Lawyer](https://www.portablelawyer.app/countries/03fe64e6-7dc2-4959-950b-e59f32a20028)
- [HTML version of this provision](https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/a6f81ea1-c6df-48b4-82b6-eea81ddb94ea)
- [Machine-readable corpus digest](https://www.portablelawyer.app/llms-full.txt)

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Portable Lawyer · Article 49 of the Constitution of Kenya. (a) to be informed promptly, in language that the person understands, of— (i) the reason for the arrest; (ii) the right to remain silent; and (iii) the consequences of not…