Kenya’s former Attorney General Githu Muigai has controverted High Court’s ruling that nullified the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), terming it a ‘dangerous proposition that only invites insurrection.’
While appearing for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), accused the five Judges of the High Court who shot down the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) process of advancing “judicial anarchy” in the country when they delivered their May 14 judgement.
Kenya’s electoral body in its submission before the seven-judge Bench of the Court of Appeal accused the High Court Judges of being subjective in their ruling and by extension ignoring the evidence that was presented before them.
“This judgement cannot be allowed to stand. It violates so many fundamental tenets of good constitutional interpretation and management of constitution conflict,” that if it were allowed to stand it would be the recipe of chaos.
Githu opined that in its judgement, the High Court trampled on the independence of the IEBC while calling on the Appellate Court to find that the High court had a lot of opportunities to exercise avoidance.
“The judges exercised a jurisdiction that the people of Kenya reserved for the Supreme Court and as a result trampled on the independence of IEBC. Independence is not for the Judiciary alone, it is for every constitutional institution,” he stated at the Court of Appeal.
He argued further, that the judgement shows misgivings on the electorates’ ability to convert the popular initiative into law, saying that the orders of the High Court are opinions and only the Supreme Court can offer an advisory opinion.
He went on to question the IEBC quorum as presented in the judgement, stating that it does not matter whether there were three or four commissioners at the time, the work of the law had to be executed.
“What was the default membership submission? he posed. IEBC was in very good protection of the law because it met the provisions of Article 250 sub-article 1,” he said.
Wednesday is day two of the submissions on the BBI appeal case before a seven-judge bench led by Court of Appeal President Daniel Musinga.
The hearing will continue through Friday when the judges will retreat to deliver a verdict.
