Secretariat to join AG in BBI appeal at apex court

Secretariat co-chairs Junet Mohammed and Dennis Waweru. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) secretariat has pledged to join Attorney General Kihara Kariuki to appeal the judgement against bid to amend the Constitution, at the Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the secretariat co-chairs Junet Mohammed and Dennis Waweru announced that they will appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the High Court ruling that declared BBI null and void.

This comes days after BBI proponents President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga said they had accepted the appellate court judgement and moved on.

Raila said he would now focus on preparing for the 2022 contest.

“Since the ruling, the country has been split. Some have called on us to allow the decision to be final. Some of those calling for an end have done so in the belief that we can visit these issues another day and possibly after the General Election. But there are also self-serving calls, instigated by anti-BBI crusaders,” said Mr Waweru.

They argued that they resolved to pursue the matter at the Supreme Court since the initiative was supported by more than four million Kenyans.

“As promoters of the BBI Bill, we have weighed the options, suggestions and reasons since last Friday. The overriding sentiment is that we must pursue this matter to the very end. We believe the Supreme Court judges can steer the country towards unity and growth in times of national crisis as the one we are heading into now,” he said.

Court of Appeal President Justice Daniel Musinga, alongside Justices Hannah Okwengu, Patrick Kiage, Fatuma Sichale, Gatembu Kairu, Roselyne Nambuye and Francis Tuyyoit on August 20 upheld the judgement of the High Court that declared the BBI process unconstitutional.

Court of Appeal Justices Hannah Okwengu, Patrick Kiage, Fatuma Sichale, Gatembu Kairu, Roselyne Nambuye and Francis Tuyyoit. [File, Standard]

“We believe the two lower courts failed to appreciate the delicate balance needed in resolving an issue like the one before us and that only the Supreme Court judges have the vocation and mandate to do so,” said Waweru.

The secretariat argued that Court of Appeal judgement made some positive pronouncements on the BBI away from the High Court ruling.

The court issued 14 orders but set aside four.

The areas the team is banking on in their push for legal redress include legality of the BBI task force and BBI steering committee, declaration that the promoters of the BBI Bill were Junet and Waweru and not the President and Raila as the High Court had ruled.

The court also affirmed that the role of Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was to verify that the initiative was backed by one million registered voters and not to verify the authenticity of signatures.

“We want to keep pushing because we are determined to ensure some of the proposals in the BBI are not lost,” said Junet.