Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Friday, November 4 praised the Supreme Court for stopping Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

Gachagua said the initiative, which would have led to a referendum to change the Consitution, was being forced on Kenyans and it would have ruined the country.

“I want to take this opportunity on behalf of the people of Kenya to salute the Judiciary for having stopped the BBI on its tracks. It was a terrible scheme against the people of Kenya and all of us had given up.

“It was being taken down our throats. Everybody was being coerced, persecuted, bribed, but because we have an independent Judiciary all the way from the High Court to Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, the Kenyan state was preserved,” Gachagua said during the launch of the Judiciary Report.

He added: “We did not know what it (BBI) would have done because these people were determined. We want to assure you of our continued support.

“President Ruto has directed that this country will be governed through the rule of law and strict adherence to the rule of law.”

Supreme Court nullifies BBI

In March 31, 2022, five out of seven judges of the Supreme Court ruled that the President could not lead a popul​ar initiative to amend the Constitution.

The apex court ruled that then President Uhuru Kenyatta ought not to have initiated the referendum issues, through a popular initiative which is against Article 257 of the Constitution which guides the process of amending the supreme law, with five of the seven judges saying the president is not an ordinary citizen and therefore should not have to lead the project.

Justices Martha Koome (CJ), Philomena Mwilu (DCJ), Smokin Wanjala, Ibrahim Mohammed and William Ouko ruled that the BBI bill which was felled by the High Court and the Court of Appeal was unconstitutional while Isaac Lenaola and Njoki Ndung’u dissented.

“The president cannot initiate constitutional amendment or changes through a popular initiative under Article 257 of the Constitution. Njoki Ndung’u dissented. The big aspect of this issue is that the president initiated the amendment process. Njoki and Lenaola dissented.

“Consequently, under Article 257 of the constitution, the Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2020 is unconstitutional, ” Koome said after all the seven judges had given their ruling.