• Kalonzo Musyoka has said that the country should restrain from anything that could plunge the nation into crisis.
• He has said that the attempt to unify the country through the Building Bridges Intiative is not dead.
Image: MUSEMBI NZENGU
Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has expressed his displeasure in the recent High Court’s ruling regarding the legality of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
On May 13, 2021, a five-judge bench of the constitutional court ruled the BBI process was unconstitutional, declaring it as null and void.
Several top leaders have reacted differently to the court’s judgment, which has seen the BBI promoters castigating the decision and calling for an appeal.
On Monday, Kalonzo, who is among the leaders who were drumming up support for BBI said that he does not agree with the court’s judgment but respects the court's decision.
“Now the High Court’s decision stopped the BBI process. Personally, I do not agree with the judgment, but I cannot vilify the judges,” Kalonzo said in a statement.
He added that people should restrain from anything that might plunge the nation into crisis and that people should respect the judiciary as an independent institution.
We must all respect the institution that the judiciary is. As far as BBI is concerned, we are guided by the rule of law and our right to appeal the decision of the High Court at the Court of Appeal,” Kalonzo added.
The Wiper leader added that Kenyans should respect the decision of the High Court and that it is neither wise nor helpful to disparage the Judiciary on account of the High Court judgment.
“Even though some of us may disagree with various declarations made in that high voltage judgment, we can disagree without being disagreeable,” he said.
He also said that the growth of the country’s democracy did not end with the attainment of independence, the multiparty democracy nor the attainment of the 2010 constitution and that the BBI process to unify the country further is not dead.
“After more than 10 years of implementations of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the country has had a conversation with itself, with a view to make various changes, proposed by the promoters of the amendments…It is with this history that we found ourselves at yet another point of our evolution under the BBI process,” Kalonzo said.
The BBI Secretariat has formally announced that they will appeal the High Court decision that declared the Constitutional amendment process as illegal.
BBI Joint secretaries Junet Mohamed and Denis Waweru trashed the hard-hitting judgment as judicial activism.
In a press conference last Friday, they claimed the five-Judge bench of the High Court made very personalised attacks against President Uhuru Kenyatta.
According to Junet, a close ally of Opposition Chief Raila Odinga, there exists what he termed as an unholy marriage between Tangatanga, a section of civil society, and the Judiciary.
In the ruling he said, the Judges went beyond their call of duty.
The Attorney General has also asked the High Court to suspend its decision that stopped the process of changing the Constitution through BBI.
Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto said that they have filed a notice of appeal at the appellate court and are seeking to have the Constitutional and Human Rights Division at the High Court suspend implementation of the orders it issued on Thursday last week.