This archive report was first published on 4 May 2021.
On May 4, 2021, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi made a ruling that effectively blocked any further amendments to the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020, also known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Bill.
According to Muturi, the Bill is a product of popular initiative and amending it would 'negate the popular will of the people indirectly amending the Constitution.'
He noted that the Bill had collected over one million signatures of registered voters in its support and had been approved by a majority of the county assemblies without alteration.
While the joint Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of the National and Senate had prepared a report acknowledging certain provisions in the Bill that ought to be expunged, Muturi stated that only typographical errors in the document would be corrected.
He invoked Standing Order 152(3) of the National Assembly Standing Orders, which allows the Speaker to correct errors in the Bill.
With 176 out of 349 MPs needed to approve the Bill in the Second and Third reading for it to pass, the ruling is a major boost for its proponents who insist that Kenyans are the ones to have a final say on the fate of the document.
