KENYA’S Supreme Court on Thursday blocked sweeping constitutional changes proposed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the court said, declaring the process unconstitutional through a majority ruling.
Last year, the High Court and the Court of Appeal struck down the proposed amendments popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), prompting the government to appeal.
The Supreme Court’s ruling, which is final, settles seven questions raised by appellants, including whether the president acted illegally by initiating the amendments to the constitution.
The amendments sought to create 70 new parliamentary constituencies and establish several powerful new posts: a prime minister, two deputies and an official leader of the parliamentary opposition.
The amendments became a lightning rod for politicians jostling ahead of the general election scheduled for August 9. Kenyatta and his deputy president, William Ruto, have publicly clashed over the proposals.
Ruto is running for the presidency in the August presidential poll; he opposes the changes. But Kenyatta is backing his former foe, veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, who favours the amendments.
‘They have told us they will bring back the BBI monster because they want to create an imperial presidency,’ Ruto told his party’s delegates earlier this month.
The constitutional changes would have created an all powerful presidency by giving him control of the judiciary through a proposed office of a judicial ombudsman, Ruto said.
It would also have put the legislature under the president’s thumb because he would have controlled the appointment to the new posts to be created, including the prime minister, he said.
Kenyatta argues the constitutional overhaul promotes power sharing among competing ethnic groups, a position vehemently dismissed by Ruto’s camp.
‘I reject the suggestion that a united country is one that has no political competition or opposition,’ Ruto told his party’s delegates, adding that a democratically elected government policed by a robust opposition was the answer.