Kenya’s High Court on Thursday ruled that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s plan of amending the country’s constitution was illegal, reported The Star.
The proposed amendment, also known as the Building Bridges Initiative, has already been passed by Kenya’s parliament. The proposal will bring in the biggest change to the Kenyan government’s structure since a new constitution was adopted in 2010. It proposes reintroducing the role of the prime minister and two deputies in the government. It also calls for a greater share of the total budget to the 47 counties and the appointment of an ombudsman to oversee the judiciary.
The High Court’s five-judge bench ruled that Kenyatta had used a constitutional provision reserved for citizens to initiate the changes and that makes the entire process illegal.
“The president cannot be both player and umpire in the same match,” said Jairus Ngaah, one of the judges.
According to the bench of judges, the committee appointed by Kenyatta to implement the constitutional amendment is an unlawful entity and that the president violated the constitution.
The court said that the amendment was the president’s initiative and not the people’s and that he shouldn’t have promoted the constitutional changes.
“Considering the illegitimate purpose for which the BBI steering committee was conceived, nothing legitimate can come out of that outfit,” the court ruled adding that “whatever it may want to consider as its achievement, including the Constitution Amendment Bill, is of no legal consequence.
The judgment is a major setback for the Kenyan president, who is due to step down in August next year and is unlikely to have sufficient time to revive the initiative should an appeal fail.
Kenyatta’s government, which wants to hold a referendum after the president signs the bill into law, said it is going to challenge the court’s ruling.
Kennedy Ogeto, Kenya’s solicitor-general, told the court that the government will file an appeal soon.
