The Building Bridges Initiative suffered a major setback after the High Court in Nairobi declared the Constitution Amendment Bill 2020 Illegal.
In a ruling delivered Thursday by a five-judge bench noted that the process was unconstitutional as Its movers usurped the power of the people
In their ruling Judges George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Teresa Matheka , Chacha Mwita and Joel Ngugi further ruled that President Uhuru Kenyatta acted above his mandate when he proposed the amendments
"The president overstretched his powers when he proposed amendments to the constitution outside his clear mandate.” the Judges ruled
While ruling in favour of eight consolidated petitions against the BBI BIll, the five-judge bench ruled that the Head of State formed and gazetted a BBI steering committee thus rendering the entire process state-sponsored.
According to the judges both the BBI secretariat and steering committee was, therefore, an unconstitutional outfit.
On whether it was constitutional for the Bill to propose the number of constituencies, the judges determined that the number of constituencies can be deliminated as long as the procedures are followed further ruling that the creation of 70 new constituencies is unlawful.
They unanimously noted that the BBI Bill appears to direct the electoral body on its constitutional mandate Ignoring key processes in the delimination of boundaries particularly the input of the public.
On the question of whether IEBC was properly constituted to confirming the authenticity of the signatures collected and the conducting of a referendum if the Bill sails through, the court ruled that the commission didn't have the quorum and its decision was invalid, null and void.
The ruling comes barely days after the August Houses; the National Assembly and the Senate overwhelmingly adopted the Bill.
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