ODM leader Raila Odinga has announced that the President and him will not move to the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appealing ruling that declared BBI unconstitutional.
Speaking during an interview on Friday morning, Odinga told journalists that anyone else is free to move to the Supreme Court, but for him and the President, their focus has shifted.
He noted that he does agree with the ruling but respect the decision of the court and will abide by it.
“Even though President Uhuru and I don't agree with the court's decision, we respect it so we would not like to take the case forward to the Supreme Court but anyone else is free to do so. When the time is right we will come back to it,” he said.
He took issue with the Court of Appeal ruling, noting that the judges erred in declaring the BBI process unconstitutional. According to him, BBI followed all legal processes including public participation.
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ODM Leader Raila Odinga. [Photo: Courtesy]
“We collected views from all over the country before and after the report and we collected 4M signatures. When the courts say that there was no public participation or that the people did not understand the document I don't understand,” he said.
His statement comes hours after the BBI Secretariat announced that it would be heading to the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal ruling.
In a presser on Thursday, BBI Secretariat Co-chairs Junet Mohammed and Dennis Waweru noted that the Court of Appeal made some rulings that must be challenged at the higher court.
"The overriding sentiment is that we must pursue this matter to the very end.. We believe that the Supreme Court has a wider and more encompassing mandate when dealing with matters of national interest than the High Court or Court of Appeal," Waweru said.
"We believe that the two lower courts failed to appreciate the delicate balance needed in resolving an issue like the one before us and that only the Supreme Court judges have both the vocation and the mandate to do so,” he added.
