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THE STANDARD By
Kamau Muthoni |
February 25th 2021 at 00:00:00 GMT +0300
Lawyer Charles Kanjama representing Kenya Christians Professionals at the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya court ruling at High court 24th May 2019. [David Gichuru, Standard]
The former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Nairobi branch president, Charles Kanjama, has joined the fray of those seeking to stop the push for a referendum.
Kanjama, in a case filed before High Court Judge Jairus Ngaah, wants the court to quash the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's (IEBC) verification of signatures.
If the lawyer’s plea is allowed, it would mean the whole exercise driving the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) will have been futile as debate on the Bill to amend the Constitution was based on signatures passing the one million mark.
THE STANDARD By
Kamau Muthoni |
February 9th 2021 at 00:00:00 GMT +0300
President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga during the National launch of the BBI signatures collection exercise at KICC in Nairobi County.
The High Court yesterday blocked the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission from subjecting the Building Bridges Initiative Bill to a referendum, throwing the Constitution changing process in limbo.
Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Janet Mulwa and Chacha Mwita, however, ordered that the process to pass the bill to amend the 2010 Constitution can continue before the 47 county assemblies and Parliament.
The issue of whether the referendum will be held will now be made after the hearing and determination of seven cases filed before the court.
THE STANDARD
POLITICS
Two activists have challenged a proposal in the Building Bridges Initiative to create an additional 70 constituencies.
Justus Juma and Isaac Ogola want the second schedule of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, which allocates the 70 constituencies to various counties, expunged from the document before it is subjected to a referendum.
In a petition filed at the High Court through lawyer Evans Ogada, the two petitioners argue that the BBI drafters went beyond their mandate in proposing electoral boundaries delimitation, which is a function of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
“There is a procedure of creating new electoral boundaries, which was not followed, and if the proposal are passed, it will be discriminatory against regions that would not be the beneficiaries of the new constituencies,” said Ogada.
THE STANDARD
POLITICS
The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Secretariat is headed to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) offices to present over three million signatures collected during the BBI drive.
They will be at the Anniversary towers in Nairobi that houses the commission's offices any time from now.
The team began a procession from their National Secretariat offices at State House Road, Nairobi to the offices on foot.
They had two buses fully stacked with the over three million signatures, assorted into boxes representing various counties, and will be received by IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati.
One of the buses filled with signatures collected during the BBI drive. [Samson Were, Standard]