This archive report was first published on 2 July 2021.
The Court of Appeal will issue a judgement on the much-publicized Building Bridges Initiative petition on August 20, following a four-day hearing that concluded on Friday.
The seven-judge bench, led by Court President Justice Daniel Musinga, will take 49 days to ready the ruling after declining a request to give an early date.
Prof Githu Muigai, representing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, had pleaded with the court to give an early date, citing strict election timelines amid concerns a referendum would no longer be tenable.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, alongside colleagues Justices Hannah Okwengu, Patrick Kiage, Fatuma Sichale, Gatembu Kairu, Roselyne Nambuye, and Francis Tuyyoit, were among the appellants in the case.
The appellants contested a Constitutional Court decision declaring the BBI constitutional review process sponsored by President Kenyatta and Odinga as null and void.
President Kenyatta, in his final submission through lawyer Kimani Kiragu, pleaded with the court to invalidate the High Court ruling that shot down the BBI process.
“At what point in time should the High Court have determined whether or not the President was acting within or outside the Constitution? In my humble submission, this should have been done at the onset and not the final judgement,” he stated.
