No BBI, No 2022 Elections - Atwoli Declares

COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli during a past Labour Day celebration
COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli during a past Labour Day celebration
File

Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli has declared that the 2022 elections would be delayed for an year if the BBI Constitution Amendment Bill did go through.

Speaking during a press address on Thursday, June 16, in Nakuru County, Atwoli stated that he and interested parties would respect the decisions by the courts.

He, however, noted that the 2022 elections would be delayed if both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court ruled the document was null and void.

g
President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) joins labour sector leaders at State House Gardens in Nairobi County to celebrate International Labour Day Celebrations on May 1, 2021.
PSCU

This, he stated, would allow for the case to be filed afresh.

"If something happens and we don't get it, we will move to the Supreme Court. If we can't get it, then we will have to start it afresh and we will appeal our parliamentarians to extend the election by an year," he proclaimed.

Atwoli appealed to Kenyans to urge parliamentarians to postpone the elections if at all BBI failed to be passed.

He argued that Kenyans, especially workers, were affected at the end of every election due to the violence in various parts of the Country.

"What I know for sure is that BBI will be there and if there will be no BBI, this one I can tell you with authority, we will look into an issue of making sure that we have BBI before we go for elections. We want peace in this country," Atwoli stated.

The unionist stated that Kenyans were tired of losing their loved ones every five years and starting their businesses afresh.

"I don't want to talk too much because everything is in court. We will wait and I know the court will determine because the ruling, according to me, had nothing to do with BBI.

"The ruling was 100 percent political and it was centred around the office of the presidency," he added.

On Thursday, May 13, the High Court ruled that the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020 was unconstitutional due to a number of illegalities encompassed in the bill.

Justice Teresia Matheka, Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, and Chacha Mwita declared that the amendment bill as unconstitutional.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and COTU Sec Gen Francis Atwoli at the 42nd General Council of the Organization of Africa Trade Union Unity (OATUU) in Nairobi on September 18, 2019
President Uhuru Kenyatta and COTU Sec Gen Francis Atwoli at the 42nd General Council of the Organization of Africa Trade Union Unity (OATUU) in Nairobi on September 18, 2019
File
  • . .