Court to grapple with constitutional challenge
Publish date: 20 September 2021
Issue Number: 940
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Kenya
Kenya’s Supreme Court has been petitioned to determine whether a Bill to amend the Constitution should concern one or multiple issues, as a battle between the government and a group of private citizens intensifies. In the appeal filed by lawyer Morara Omoke, the Supreme Court has been tasked with determining whether Article 257 (10) requires an amendment to the Constitution be presented to the voters in the form of separate and distinct referendum questions, or whether multiple amendments may be contained in a single referendum ballot paper. The Nation reports that he wants the court to set aside a finding of the Court of Appeal that a proposed referendum on multiple amendments of the Constitution, like the Building Bridges Initiative Bill, which proposed 74 amendments of unrelated laws, can be submitted as a single question to the voters.