President Uhuru Kenyatta has yet again received a big blow from the Court in his term as the head of the nation.
Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga initiated a Building Bridges Initiative process to amend the Constitution of Kenya in what they termed as creating a government of unity.
The BBI was born following a Handshake between the two leaders that brought to an end the differences that were witnessed in the country following the 2017 general elections won by Uhuru but was dismissed by the opposition.
The Handshake’s climax was the referendum where members of the public were to have their final say on the changes proposed in the document.
In his speech during the 57th Jamhuri Day commemoration of 2020, the President said all indications point to the urgent need to revisit the 2010 Constitution to make it better and more responsive to the aspirations of Kenyans.
He said the post-election deaths that accompany every election are a sign of constitutional decay and urged Kenyans not to be prisoners of the current law but be ready to change it for the better.
“If it takes an absurd 123 days to conduct an election or one-third of a year as we did in 2017, this is a sign that the moment calls for change. If the country loses one trillion shillings during these 123 days of an election or an equivalent of one-third of our national budget, this is a sign that a moment of reckoning is approaching,” Uhuru said.
But the BBI proponents have to wait longer to harvest the final fruit of the handshake after the court stopped the reggae.
A five-judge bench of the constitutional court ruled on Thursday that the Building Bridges Initiative process was null and void.
Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Chacha Mwita, and Teresia Matheka unanimously ruled that the entire process that the BBI team followed in coming up with the constitutional amendment was unconstitutional.
Judges said that the president, the government, or any state organ cannot initiate a popular initiative in the constitution.
They said that the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill 2020 was a process that was initiated by the president.
This appears as a landmark ruling from the court stopping the president.
In 2017, the Supreme Court under the leadership of former Chief Justice David Maraga nullified Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential win over numerous irregularities during the election.
The court ordered a repeat presidential election that was later abstained by the opposition.
Following the nullification, Uhuru and his running mate William Ruto criticized the court for nullifying the will of the people.
What followed after Jubilee won the repeat election appeared as a war between the Executive and the Judiciary.
Former CJ Maraga came out to the public to reveal how his office was ignored by the office of the president, including his calls going unanswered.
In September last year, Maraga advised the president to dissolve Parliament for failing to enact legislation to implement the two-thirds gender rule but the advisory was not responded to.
Eyes are now on the BBI team on how they will react to the ruling and if they will appeal the judgment.
BBI secretariat led by Suna East MP Junet Mohamed and Dennis Waweru had earlier asked the court to consider the mood of the people before making a ruling.
They said that the case was the only obstacle standing between the people and the referendum which they had said was to be held on July this year.