The following words posted by Lawyer Waikwa Wanyoike two years ago still rings true.
Yesterday, during the Madaraka day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta carelessly talked about changing the constitution.
“It is a living document. And if certain elements of the Constitution outlive their historical purpose, they become a cancer. They must be removed or they will infect the good elements of the mother law,” Uhuru said at the state celebration
By changing the constitution, Uhuru Kenyatta just like Moi before him, wants to succeed himself. Kenyans must not allow it to happen.
For a govt that has more than 20 times called court orders, ‘pieces of paper’, it didn’t come as a surprise. The words of the Litigation Director for Open Society Justice Initiative, Waikwa Wanyoike against the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) are still fresh and I’d like to share them now: Waikwa shared his words through a Twitter thread two years ago
This is why the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) by Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta is an illegal and unconstitutional outfit – a thread.
- It is established without any legal authority – The President must always exercise that power under known legal authority. In Gazette Notice 5154 the President does not cite the legal authority under which he is establishing BBI because there is none.
2. Parliament has never passed a law or even deliberated on a motion to establish BBI. Without an enabling constitutional or statutory framework, BBI is anchored on an illegality. Gazette Notice alone is not enough.
3. Moreover, BBI’s aim, we are told, is to “outline the policy, administrative reform proposals” which Raila Odinga has interpreted to mean constitutional changes through referendum. Yet BBI or its work, is not aligned to the mandatory framework on const amendments – Art. 255-257.
4. Articles 255-257 of the Constitution have no room or do not authorize an amorphous and public money gobbling vehicle such as BBI to facilitate constitutional change process. That is the work of parliament and IEBC (assuming there is one in place)
5. BBI is not a popular initiative. It is a political subterfuge vehicle to divert Kenyans focus from the real issue: an economy buckling under the weight of plunder, sheer incompetence & cluelessness on how to govern a country.
6.If in fact genuine efforts to amend the constitution will be initiated later, Kenyans will be out of pocket twi e – by funding the illegal consultation process that BBI is engaging in then funding the genuine consultation process required by Articles 255-257. Yet we are broke!
7. BBI is duplicitous & steals powers of other legal agencies. Ostensibly the bridges in BBI are for cohesion. Why should Kenyans pay Haji, Wako et al to do what we are already paying Kaparo to do? Should we even be paying Kaparo in the first
