The BBI is a brainchild of President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Among other things, it seeks to amend the constitution and expand the executive while also significantly increasing the number of members of Parliament.
But DP Ruto and his allies have consistently stated the BBI bill which has already been passed by Parliament and a majority of the County assemblies and was set to be subjected to a referendum is not a priority for Kenyans amid challenges in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is GOD in heaven who loves Kenya immeasurably. May GOD’S name be PRAISED forever,” the DP tweeted, moments after the ruling.
Ruto further stressed that the government in which he serves should concentrate on vaccinating Kenyans against Covid-19 instead of investing billions of shillings in changing the constitution.
“Our DEMOCRACY is anchored on the RULE of LAW, CONSTITUTIONALISM, SEPARATION of power, and RESPECT for independent institutions. All PATRIOTIC citizens must DEFEND these tenets just like JUDICIARY did. Now let’s focus on covid VACCINATION, economic RECOVERY, the big4 and stay UNITED.”
Ruto’s close ally Kipchumba Murkomen also praised the ruling.
He tweeted: “When the history of Kenya is properly written, the contribution of Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Chacha Mwita, and Teresia Matheka 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.”
In the landmark ruling, the court also declared that civil procedures can be initiated against a sitting President or person performing functions of the President during the tenure of office in respect to anything done contrary to the Constitution.
It also declared that the President does not have authority under the Constitution to initiate changes to the Constitution and that the steering committee on the implementation of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) task force to a united Kenya report established by the President vide gazette notice number 264 on January 3, 2020, and published in a special gazette issue of January 10, 2020, is an unconstitutional and unlawful entity.
The ruling puts a spin on efforts by the politicians who were keen to align themselves to different camps in consideration of the additional seats via the BBI, ahead of the 2022 general elections.
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