Video: William Ruto demands apology from Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga over BBI

Deputy President William Ruto has demanded that President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga apologise to Kenyans after the Supreme Court upheld the decision that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Constitutional Amendment Bill was unconstitutional.

DP Ruto was speaking on Thursday evening during a political rally in Lamu County where he popularised his presidential bid.

He argued that President Kenyatta and Odinga should apologise for what he termed as wasting Kenyans’ time on BBI and plotting a constitutional moment that has now been nullified by the highest court in the land.

Deputy President William Ruto speaking during a political rally in Lamu County Pulse Live Kenya

“We want to tell our friends the handshake brothers and the BBI frauds, they visited on the people of Kenya…now that it is confirmed by the Supreme Court that the BBI and all the shenanigans around it were matters that were unconstitutional, illegal null and void.

“The handshake brothers need to make an apology to the people of Kenya. They have wasted four years of our time, they sabotaged the Big 4 plan that was going to give jobs to our young people in favour of a fraudulent exercise meant to satisfy the selfish interests of a few people.

“The least we expect from the promoters of the BBI nonsense is for them to own up and apologize to the people of Kenya that they wasted our four precious years,” Dr Ruto urged.

The deputy president also accused the head of state of wasting billions of public resources in pushing the proposed referendum bill.

Supreme Court judgement on BBI

During the ruling by the Supreme Court, most of the judges noted that despite arguments that Uhuru participated in the push for the BBI as a private citizen, there was reasonable evidence that state institutions were used.

Chief Justice Martha Koome said that the nature of Uhuru’s engagements with the BBI and its promoters as a private citizen was hard to distinguish.

She noted that the president appointed the BBI task force and secretariat via a government notice, received the report at a State event, and issued communication regarding the initiative with state symbols and insignia.

"The president appointed the BBI taskforce, it cannot be disputed that the president was involved in the amendment of the BBI amendment bill,” CJ Koome said.

However, the judges also held that the head of state enjoys immunity and is protected from civil litigation.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition Leader Raila Odinga receiving the final BBI Report Pulse Live Kenya

According to the Chief Justice, the lower courts’ judges who found that President Kenyatta could be sued in civil disputes, erred.

“The implication of this [allowing civil suits against a sitting president] is far-reaching, and therefore calls for a very careful analysis and consideration by this court,” she said.

“The exercise of public power by the president can be challenged in a court of law by suing the Attorney-General through an action of Judicial Review or Constitutional petition,” she concluded.