Feb, 17th 2021 – ODM leader Raila Amollo Odinga and the Secretariat of Building Bridges Initiative now says that the petitions filed in court challenging the BBI process are an abuse of the Court process and vexatious.
In response to seven petitions filed by Economist David Ndii and others, Raila and the Secretariat want the petitions dismissed arguing that they are merely speculative, generalized, hypothetical, and have not been pleaded with specificity.
The petition filed through lawyer Nelson Havi, it read, “Accordingly, an amendment to the constitution cannot be made that had the effect of overthrowing or obliterating the Constitution itself. Simply put the Constitution’s basic structure is infrangible.”
Through lawyer Paul Mwangi, the BBI secretariat and Raila claim that the Petitions are inviting the Court to encroach on the legislative mandate of the National Assembly, the County Assemblies, and the Senate, offending the doctrines and principles of separation of powers.
Mr. Havi said, “The three questions set out hereinabove, amongst other matters raised in the Petition dated 16th September, 2020 are substantial, novel and require consideration by an uneven number of Judges, being not less than three to be assigned by the Chief Justice.”
They stated that the parliament had been prevented from exercising its powers citing certain constitutional subjects which are to be the foundational basis of the constitution.
They stated that chapters one, two, four, nine, ten and others form the basic structure of the constitution and cannot be ammended by parliament.
They said, “The legal foundation is premised on the constitutional theory that certain aspects of the Constitution are unchangeable, immutable and so bound up with the fabric of the Constitution itself, that as long as the Constitution exists, they too must necessarily exist.”