Constitution will remain untouched!

Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court ruling that BBI is null and void and its processes were unconstitutional.

Five High Court judges in May blocked a government-backed plan to make fundamental changes to the country’s constitution.

Ruto welcomes ruling

William Ruto, the Vice President has welcomed the verdict and hailed that the Court of Appeal has ‘stopped the coalition of the known, mighty and the powerful from destroying our constitution’.

Ruto stated: “God, our heavenly father has come through for Kenya and stopped the coalition of the known, the mighty and the powerful from destroying our constitution.”

He added: “Our God, help Alliance of the unknown, the jobless, the hustlers and struggling farmers to now engineer our econmy from bottom up.”

Ruto shared his message on social media platform Twitter, which we reproduce below;

William Samoei Ruto, PhD@WilliamsRuto: GOD,our heavenly FATHER has come THROUGH for Kenya & STOPPED the COALITION of the known, the mighty, & the powerful from destroying our CONSTITUTION.Our GOD,help the ALLIANCE of the unknown, the jobless,the Hustlers & struggling farmers to now ENGINEER our ECONOMY from BOTTOM UP.

Raila Odinga moves on

Raila Odinga, Orange Democratic Movement leader and former Prime Minister, earlier before the ruling asked all parties involved to move on.

Odinga who shared this message on Twitter, guided: “It is likely that today’s Court of Appeal ruling is not the end of the conversation and the parties involved will each make their own decisions on how to proceed from the decision that has been delivered today. But we feel that we have to move on.”

Court of Appeal ruling;

In a majority decision on Friday, six of the seven-judge bench, headed by the Court’s President Daniel Musinga tore into the BBI process, declaring several stages and actions unconstitutional and unlawful.

The judges however expunged part of the High Court orders including one that said that President Uhuru Kenyatta had contravened Chapter Six of the Constitution.

The judges unanimously set aside the declaration that Uhuru contravened chapter six of the constitution for initiating the BBI process.

All judges have agreed that the basic structure is applicable in Kenya.

However, 5 judges affirmed that the basic structure doctrine limits the power to amend the constitution. Judges Okwengu and Sichale dissented.

All the judges have also unanimously ruled that civil proceedings can be instituted against the present, Justice Tuiyott dissented.

All judges have also agreed that the president does not have the authority to initiate changes to the constitution.

The bench has also held that the BBI steering committee has no legal capacity to initiate changes to the constitution.

Six judges have held that the constitution of Kenya cannot be subjected to the referendum unless. Justice Sichale dissented.

Justice Sichale also disagreed with the majority who held that IEBC did not have a quorum for carrying out verification of signatures and other administrative processes.

The judges also unanimously agreed that at the time of collection of BBI signatures there was no legislation given on verification of signatures.

“A permanent injunction is hereby issued barring IEBC from conducting a referendum on the constitutional amendment bill 2020,” the judges said.

The Judges also appeared to raise the bar on amending the Constitution through popular initiative and making it even harder to amend the country’s supreme law.

The majority faulted the President for riding on a popular initiative – an avenue reserved for the common man – to instigate constitutional changes.

High Court ruling

In a scathing ruling, five High Court judges in Kenya have blocked a government-backed plan to make fundamental changes to the country’s constitution.

The judgement is arguably the most significant ruling by Kenyan courts since President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election win was nullified in 2017.

The judges said the constitution amendment bill, popularly referred to as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), was irregular, illegal and unconstitutional.

President Kenyatta and his political nemesis-turned-ally, Raila Odinga, unveiled the initiative after a truce following the contentious 2017 election, which saw violent clashes around the country.

The debate has dominated Kenya’s politics for the past two years and is closely linked to the battle to succeed Mr Kenyatta, who is due to step down next year.

The two leaders said the initiative, which proposes, among others, the expansion of the executive arm of government, would make the country’s politics more inclusive.

But critics say it is a selfish initiative to reward political dynasties, and that it will lead to a bloated parliament and executive which Kenya – a country already burdened by debt- cannot afford.

The BBI bill had been passed by the National Assembly and the Senate before Thursday’s court ruling and was awaiting a presidential assent, after which Kenyans would have headed to a referendum before next year’s elections.