Pro-BBI youth groups on Monday denounced the "aged" Constitutional Court for ruling the BBI process unconstitutional.
They told a press conference that if the Judiciary remains unchecked, it will indirectly run the Executive and Parliament through legal jargon instead of facing the electorate at the ballot.
“Our bench has ridiculously very old judges who are so detached from the youths’ interests and therefore do not understand or subscribe to the 'kuomoka' (prosperity) ideology of the modern youth,” convenor Alex Matere said.
If the decision is upheld by the Appeal Court or Supreme Court, the Judiciary's budget should be slashed, and the money reallocated to the Youth Fund, Helb, the Uwezo Fund and monthly food stamps for youth, they said.
The groups included the Jubilee Youth League, Youth United for Kenya and the Kenya University Students Organisation, among others.
We are utterly dismayed and will not sit by as Judge Ngugi and his ilk rob us of our today and devour our future with a big spoon without shutting their mouths.
They said judges should be elected and appointed, instead of 'hiding' behind the Constitution and other laws.
“We shall be proposing an amendment to the Constitution ... [whereby] judges in Kenya should be elected by the people, not appointed by a commission,” Matere said.
They recommended the Judicial Service Commission urgently hire judges who are not just youthful but are youths.
The youths said by 'trashing' the presidential constitutional responsibility of promoting and enhancing national unity through the handshake, the Judiciary is inviting anarchy and violent revolution. They compared it to the Arab Spring and its aftermath.
“As young Kenyans, especially those who submitted views before the BBI, we are utterly dismayed and will not sit by as Judge Ngugi and his ilk rob us of our today and devour our future with a big spoon without shutting their mouths,” Matere said.
The BBI task force claimed youths are the biggest beneficiaries of the BBI, but the Constitutional Court sought to wipe out all gains by young people and the promises of BBI.
They said the court went against the High Court precedents that the BBI committee was constitutional and the IEBC has a quorum.
The Constitutional Court, which is a High Court, last week declared the BBI process unconstitutional.
Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Teresia Matheka and Chacha Mwita said a constitutional amendment can either be initiated by a parliamentary or popular initiative, not by the president.
The judges said President Uhuru Kenyatta failed in achieving genuine public participation, a constitutional requirement. It said he could be impeached for various transgressions, including violating Constitution Chapter 6 on integrity.
The court ruled the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, not the BBI team, had the sole mandate of determining the boundaries of BBI's proposed 70 new constituencies. Determining constituencies lacked public participation, the court said.
(Edited by V. Graham)