The Court of Appeal on Friday, June 25, accepted a civilian application to introduce the Hansard and JLAC (Justice and Legal Affairs Committee) report on BBI as additional evidence.
Justices Musinga, Nambuye and Mohammed approved the application while giving a 2-day window for an appeal against their decision to be made.
Thirdway Alliance Party chairperson Miruru Waweru initially filed the application, pointing out the process was unconstitutional.
In the application, there was emphasis for the JLAC report to be consulted in rulings to follow on the ideated referendum. Through lawyer Elias Mutuma, Mr Waweru argued that the report had not been in existence prior to the case being presented to the High Court.
The JLAC report was tabled by members of the committee for debate by parliamentarians.
It found multiple discrepancies in the BBI, some of which were questionable including; reducing the Senate’s role in decisions such as impeaching a Prime Minister.
The committee also reported the BBI to be implicitly proposing that nomination of members to county, national and senate special seats will be based on majority votes won by the party. This leaves out constituencies with a smaller voter registration.
Nonetheless, Miruru pointed out that JLAC’s findings were not biased.
The application further acknowledged the necessity of a better defined legal framework for procedures founded on public opinion.
The Court of Appeal has welcomed affidavits against the successful petition within the next two days after which the case will proceed. With this evidence being sanctioned, the case will start on June 29th and end on July 2nd.
The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) proposal came as a result of President Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga coming to a consensus. A task force was then set up to gain public opinion on a proposal to amend the 2010 constitution.
An appellate court presiding over the case will feature newly procured evidence from Thirdway Alliance. A 7 judge cohort was formed by Court of Appeal president Daniel Musinga to hear the case. The judges are Justices Roselyn Nambuye, Hannah Okwengu, Partick Kiage, Gatembu Kairu, Fatuma Sichale and Francis Tuiyott.
