Stand your ground and say no to President Uhuru, Khaminwa tells BBI judges

Senior Counsel John Khaminwa on Friday, July 2 urged the seven-bench appellate judges hearing the Building Bridges Appeal case to dismiss President Uhuru Kenyatta’s case for what he termed disrespect to judges and courts.

Dr Khaminwa who was appearing for the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Kituo Cha Sheria on the fourth day of the BBI appeal hearing told the bench that after declining to appoint the four judges nominated by Judicial Service Commission, President Uhuru had shown disrespect to the court.

“President Kenyatta has not come to the court with clean hands, therefore the court must refuse to hear him for deliberately refusing to swear in the six judges,” he said.

Khaminwa said it was double-standard from President Kenyatta to mistreat judges seconded to the appellate court and at the same time appear before their would-be colleagues to hear him.

“If you have a president who demeans judges and disobey court orders, the court must stand its ground and say no to him.”

 He told the bench to throw out President Kenyatta's request and direct him to take them to another court and not the appellate one.

“You must stand your ground and tell him no, we shall not hear you, you can raise your complaints before another court and not this court.”

Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Weldon Korir and Aggrey Muchelule, who sought appellate court positions were left out in President Uhuru’s June 3 appointments.

Khaminwa told the court to protect the constitution from selfish politicians who want to use unconstitutional means to amend the law.

He said if not guarded by the courts, the 2010 Constitution which was enacted to address the rotten history of Kenya will be destroyed by the elite.

He said before the enactment of the 2010 Constitution, there was misrule, political assassinations and rampant corruption thus the need to guard the rule against attempts to erode the gains made.

Khaminwa said to send the message to Kenyans and the world that Kenya was not going back to the misrule, various chapters and offices such as preamble, the sovereignty of the people, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, devolution, the Office of the Inspector General among others.

Khaminwa also claimed he could tell Senior Counsel James Orengo, George Oraro and others were at pains to address the court in what they themselves don’t believe in.

“My lords and ladies, some of these lawyers are my close friends, we take tea together I can tell if they don’t believe in what they are saying,” he said.

Khaminwa is among the lawyers appearing for the respondents who want the Court of Appeal to uphold the High Court ruling that declared the Building Bridges Initiative amendment bill unconstitutional.