• Duale said the judgements by the three courts affirmed the aspirations of the people of Kenya.
• He said the Auditor general should also confirm whether public funds were allocated to the entities and how it was spent.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Garissa Township MP Aden Duale now wants the proponents of the flopped Building Bridges Initiative to account for the billions of shillings spent in the constitutional amendment process.
In a statement after the Supreme Court declared the process unconstitutional, Duale said the judgements by the three courts affirmed the aspirations of the people of Kenya.
He went on to say that it is time those involved account for the money spent on promoting the BBI process that has now been termed illegal.
"Now that the Supreme Court has put the final nail on the BBI Bill, we must ask the difficult ensuing questions relating to the whole process," Duale said.
"One of which is that huge amounts of public funds and resources totalling an estimated Sh20 billion were used on the BBI process which illegality now stinks to the highest heavens."
The former National Assembly majority leader said that the Auditor-general should move with speed, audit and report on all the accounts of the BBI Steering Committee and Taskforce on Implementation of the BBI.
He said the Auditor general should also confirm whether public funds were allocated to the entities and how it was spent.
"Article 201(d) and (e) of the Constitution provides that public money shall be used in a prudent and responsible way and financial management shall be responsible, and fiscal reporting shall be clear," Duale said.
"We owe this to our people! What is however unfortunate is that now that the BBI Bill is completely dead we may be looking at an estimated Sh30 billion that was spent on the unconstitutional process having what in Swahili we say “pesa zilikunywa maji!”
The legislator's sentiments come after the Supreme Court judges laid the final nail on the constitutional change process.
In the landmark ruling, the seven-judge bench on Thursday overturned five of the seven grounds the Court of Appeal had used to annul the BBI.
Among the key issues determined by the apex court was that the Kenyan Constitution does not have a basic structure, meaning there is no article that cannot be amended so long as the law is followed.
Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had ruled there are fundamental provisions in the Constitution that cannot be amended unless four sequential steps — civic education, public participation, constituent assembly debate and referendum — are followed.
The BBI was to introduce the position of prime minister, two deputies, the leader of the official opposition in Parliament as well as have ministers appointed from among MPs.
It also proposed enhanced allocation of resources to counties from at least 15 per cent to a mandated 35 per cent.