Judgement On BBI Appeal
The supreme court on Thursday is expected to deliver its judgment on the Building Bridges Initiative constitutional review.
The seven judges on the bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome will outline their respective opinions in line with the tradition of court panels before the court gives a final judgment.
The bench comprises CJ Koome, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung’u, Isaac Lenaola, and William Ouko.
The ruling is expected to have a significant impact on the events in the political landscape because it holds the key to wide-ranging constitutional changes.
The country's attention is on the seven-bench judges, they will determine if the county's governance structure will change or remain the same.
After the judges ruled out the BBI initiative, the Attorney General, President Uhuru Kenyatta, the BBI Secretariat, and the electoral agency IEBC moved to the Supreme Court to challenge the decision to suppress the BBI push.
The AG in his findings challenged the lower courts that overturned the bid to amend the Constitution including asking the apex court to overturn that decision and declare that the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2021 complied with all requirements to warrant a referendum.
In President Kenyatta's appeal, he wants the Supreme Court to establish presidential immunity and protect the President's right to initiate change to the constitution.
This follows a ruling by the lower courts which accused the president of Head of State of unprocedural initiating the changes to the constitution.
The court declared the basic structure of the constitution could only be amended by invoking a four-phased process entailing, “civic education; public participation and collation of views; Constituent Assembly debate; and ultimately, a referendum.”
An appeal on the BBI case was heard by the judges between January 18th and 20th, 2022, and it was ruled that the process of amending the Constitution was unconstitutional, null, and void.
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