• Mwangi, a long time legal adviser to ODM leader Raila Odinga, said even the petitioners are in disbelief about the nature of judgment issued by the five on Thursday.
• The judges said the President initiated and promoted a constitutional change process contrary to the provisions of the Constitution on amendment.
Image: FILE
Ex-BBI joint secretary Paul Mwangi now claims that the five-judge High Court bench that scuttled the constitutional amendments is fighting President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mwangi, a long time legal adviser to ODM leader Raila Odinga, said even the petitioners are in disbelief about the nature of judgment issued by the five on Thursday.
“Even the petitioners are shocked. The judges hijacked their case and used it to wage war on the President instead of dealing with the issues the petitioners raised,” Mwangi stated.
In the hard-hitting ruling delivered live on TV for almost four hours, the judges made a finding that Uhuru violated Chapter 6 of the Constitution on leadership and integrity.
They said the President initiated and promoted a constitutional change process contrary to the provisions of the Constitution on amendment.
In fact, the court made a finding that civil court proceedings can be instituted against Uhuru or a person performing the functions of the office of President during their tenure of office in respect of anything done or not done contrary to the Constitution.
The five Judges are Joel Ngungi, George Odunga, Ngaah Jairus, Chacha Mwita and Mumbua Matheka.
Interestingly, Ngungi and Odunga are among the 41 judges that Uhuru has refused to appoint. The two were set to be promoted to the Court of Appeal.
The President claims he received a dossier from the National Intelligence Service that some of the judges have questionable character. However, the nature of evidence against any of the nominated judges has never been made public.
But Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen paid glowing tribute to the five judges, saying their legacy will be written in golden letters.
"They are part of the few remaining Kenyan prophets who have not bowed down to Baal. God bless you," he stated.
For lawyer Donald Kipkorir, the judges ought to have recused themselves from the case because of possible bias.
"Because of the likelihood of bias by the three against the President, they shouldn’t have sat on the bench .. They ought to have recused themselves," he stated.
Homa Bay Towm MP Peter Kaluma termed the ruling an "attempted coup d'etat. It must be dealt with as such," he said.
Former Presiding Bishop at Citam David Ongide termed the judgment a bombshell.
"The court has delivered a head-spinning bombshell! May the Lord help us to take it soberly," he stated.
In their ruling Thursday, the judges said a constitutional amendment through a popular initiative is only a preserve of the ordinary Kenyans and not the executive.
They declared that the BBI Taskforce—which was headed by the late Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji and in which Mwangi and Ambassador Martin Kimani served as joint secretaries—was unlawful entity.
“A Declaration is hereby made that being an unconstitutional and unlawful entity, the Steering Committee on the Implementation of the Building Bridges to a United Kenya Taskforce Report, has no legal capacity to initiate any action towards promoting constitutional changes,” they ruled.