NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 28- The much-awaited ruling on the appeal Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) appeal case will be issued on Thursday, the Supreme Court has announced.
Supreme Court Registrar Letizia Wachira said the seven-judge bench chaired by Chief Justice Martha Koome will issue the verdict at 9.00 am.
The ruling is set to shape the country’s political landscape, just a few months before the August 9 polls.
The Supreme Court will either uphold the Court of Appeal ruling that declared, President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga-led initiative, null and void or invalidate it.
The initiative seeks to amend the constitution, to among other things expand the executive, in a bid to include more political players.
The President and Odinga argue the current winner takes it all approach is detrimental to the country’s unity.
But those opposed to the move, led by Deputy President William Ruto, say the focus should about reviving the country’s economy and not creating more political positions, for a few individuals, he argues.
The March 2018 handshake between the President and his then political foe, the Orange Democratic Movement leader, gave birth to the BBI initiative. The country had just undergone a lengthy electioneering period, characterised by violence and killings- some by police.
In the past, DP Ruto has said BBI was “the biggest fraud and the most dangerous assignment” ever pursued in Kenya that would have destroyed its democratic ideals because of the establishment of an imperial president.
He is specifically opposed to the proposal of creating a Judiciary Ombudsman, saying such a move will create an imperial presidency.
The proposed amendments to the 2010 constitution were approved by parliament in May 2021 and were then due to be put to a referendum.
Two days later, a three-judge bench of the High Court ruled they were illegal as the president did not have the right to initiate the process.
The Court of Appeal in August 2021 upheld that view and said President Kenyatta could even be sued in a civil court for launching the process.
Things are even more politically complex because President Kenyatta has since come out all open to support Odinga, in his bid to succeed him.
Ruto is also seeking to be Kenya’s fifth President and has accused Kenyatta of betraying him.
So, which way will it go?
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