Politics

Kenya Decides: Supreme Court knocks out President Kenyatta’s constitution reform to expand parliament, executive

Published

2 years ago

March 31, 2022

As the 2022 presidential elections in Kenya approach, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s bid to change the constitution to change the country’s constitution has been labeled as “illegal” by the Supreme Court of Kenya. Thus, dealing a blow to him and his allies ahead of going to the polls in August.

Six of the seven judges overseeing the case at the Supreme Court said, ruled against Kenyatta’s proposal to expand the executive stressing that the President cannot initiate constitutional amendments or changes through popular initiative under article 257 of the constitution,”

The failed law would have expanded the executive and increased the number of parliamentary seats from 290 to 360, in the biggest change to Kenya’s political system since it introduced a new constitution in 2010.

The ruling was given by a seven-judge bench at the Supreme Court headed by Martha Koome, the country’s first female chief justice.

The ruling however left the possibility of adopting popular reforms – Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) – to be instituted by parliament or through other means, so long as the president did not have a hand in the changes.

The “Building Bridges Initiative” (BBI) was a constitutional referendum that occurred in Kenya in 2021. The initiative consisted of a series of 78 proposed amendments to the Constitution of Kenya and spanned 13 of its 18 chapters.

Many however disagreed with the BBI, most notable amongst the BBI detractors is Kenyatta’s estranged deputy William Ruto, who is running for the top job in August. Ruto believes the plan is a little more than a naked grab for power by a two-term president who cannot run a third time.

Related Topics:Featured kenya decides President Uhuru Kenyatta

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

7 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.

Politics

S’Africa lengthens troop deployment in Mozambique, Congo DR

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech that South Africa’s military would keep sending troops to Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are both in the middle of wars.

The extension will leave 1,198 members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo for an unknown amount of time. They are there as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups.

The statement also said that 1,495 members of the SANDF would keep working in Mozambique, where they have been since 2021 helping the government fight dangerous extremism in the north.

After two SANDF troops were killed and three were hurt by a mortar bomb in Congo in February, South Africa’s military operations abroad have been looked at more closely at home this year.

Meanwhile, the major opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, said that Ramaphosa sent troops into a war zone without being ready.
Under the supervision of the UN, the SANDF has taken on many dangerous and difficult peacekeeping tasks over the years to help war-torn African countries stay stable and peaceful.

In 2003, South Africa was one of the first countries to send troops to Burundi to help the peace process. During the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission in 2000, the SANDF led attempts to stabilize the country’s politics, rebuild and improve infrastructure, and train DRC troops.