City lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi on December 2, hinted to looming litigation over the adoption of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.
Through his Twitter account, Ahmednasir opined that the heated debate over the avenue through which Kenyans will consider the BBI recommendations may have to be decided at the Supreme Court.
“Whether BBI report will be adopted through a referendum or Parliament is a monumental constitutional question and it will not be decided by H.E Uhuru [Kenyatta], Hon [William] Ruto or Hon Raila [Odinga].
“That question will be decided by a 5-judge High Court bench, it will go to the Court of Appeal [and then] to the Supreme Court,” read the tweet.
The constitutional lawyer further explained that the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provided three distinct ways of amendment under Articles 255, 256 and 257
"[This is] because the constitution provides for clear and elaborate procedures on how it can be amended,” wrote Ahmednasir.
Kenyans on Twitter weighed in on the possibility of a legal battle taking issue with the fact that many decisions were, in their view, unnecessarily being decided by courts.
Dennis Nkarichia wrote; “And therein lies the challenge of governance in modern Kenya. We have slowly become a litigious country unable or unwilling to make good faith compromises. And by being litigious we increasingly call upon judges to rule on social and political issues beyond their jurisdiction.”
YoursPenfully wrote; In other words, the courts will once again usurp power of Kenyans? The court's powers must be checked so that it doesn’t keep usurping the power of Parliament - the real people’s representatives.
“Maybe we the people need to start electing CJs and supreme court judges,” he added.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, speaking at a church fundraiser in Migori County on Sunday, December 1, insisted that it was up to Kenyans to read the BBI report and decide on how to go about it, and not the National Assembly's role to decide for the public.
The BBI Report was officially handed to President Uhuru Kenyatta on November 26, by the task force chaired by Senator Yusuf Haji and later released to the public on November 27.
