Court of Appeal Gives New Instructions On BBI

A statement from the Office of the Registrar in the Court of Appeal has given direction on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) case.

The letter by the Registrar, Court of Appeal Moses Serem gave instructions to the lawyers who have filed civil applications following the judgement by the High Court's 5 judge bench.

Registrar Serem said there will be a case management conference on June 2, 2021, before a three-judge bench at 9 am.

Further, only one lawyer will be allowed inside the court premise in adherence to MoH guidelines on Covid-19 management.

"The case management conference shall provide an opportunity for the court to give appropriate directions on various issues, including but not limited to: i) The viability of hearing the substantive appeals rather than the rule 5(2) (b) applications; (ii) The length of the submissions to be filed (iii) The amount of time required for parties to prepare and exchange submissions (iv) Logistical issues relating to the hearing of the applications/appeals," the statement read.

This comes days after the Court of Appeal certified the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) appeal filed by the state as urgent.

Directions issued to parties through an email, the court instructed them to file and serve their documents as they await the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Daniel Musinga to constitute a bench to hear the appeal.

President Uhuru Kenyatta moved to the court expressing his desire to challenge a High Court ruling that declared the BBI process unconstitutional.

The president through his lawyer Waweru Gatonye filed a notice of appeal, arguing that as one of the respondents in the petition, he was dissatisfied by the judgment delivered by the five-judge high court bench.

In his court papers, the Head of State argues that the judges proceeded to hear the petition against him without ensuring he was served.

"The judges proceeded to hear and determine a matter against H.E. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta without ensuring that personal service had been effected upon him," The President’s notice of appeal papers read in part.

Some of the declarations the president intends to appeal against include; the court’s pronouncement that he violated Chapter 6 of the Constitution by initiating and championing for constitutional amendment under Article 257 contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.

He is also unhappy with the High Court’s declaration that the BBI task force is an illegal entity, and that he has no powers to initiate a popular initiative.