Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday took aim at the judiciary after a recent ruling scuppered his plan to change the constitution ahead of next year’s general elections.
In a speech celebrating Madaraka Day, marking the country’s attainment of self-rule in 1963, Kenyatta singled out several court decisions that have put him at loggerheads with judges.
In 2017, the Supreme Court made a historic ruling cancelling his victory in a presidential election over widespread irregularities. He won a further term in a re-run which was boycotted by the opposition.
Then in May, a High Court ruled his reforms known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) were illegal.
Read Also: Kenyan Court Blocks Constitutional Amendment Plans
‘From nullification of a presidential election in 2017 to an attempt to stop the will of the people as expressed through BBI, the judiciary has tested our constitutional limits, but not broken them,’ Kenyatta said in a televised speech.
‘We must follow the rule of law and obey the decisions of the courts but the sovereign and supreme voice of the people of Kenya must also be followed.’
Kenyatta was addressing a crowd in the lakeside city of Kisumu, an opposition stronghold, where hundreds of supporters gathered, many not wearing masks.
Kisumu has emerged as a new Covid-19 hotspot in Kenya in recent days and was where the country first detected the Delta variant, first identified in India.
Kenyatta said that the nullification of his presidential win in 2017 had cost the East African country an estimated 1 trillion shillings ($9.3 billion, 7.5 billion euros).
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
