The president’s controversial three-year effort to rewrite the constitution will be decided by Kenya’s Court of Appeal on Friday, a decision that could shake up the political landscape less than a year before elections.
President Uhuru Kenyatta claims that his proposed amendments to the 2010 constitution will assist to end the cycle of election violence, which has polarized the political class.
Following a reconciliation between Kenyatta and his former opponent Raila Odinga, which included a famous handshake, the reforms were implemented after post-election unrest in 2017 left dozens of people dead.
The so-called Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) aims to alter the current winner-take-all election system, which Kenyatta blames for vote turmoil, as well as create new positions, including a prime ministership.
Election campaigns in the East African country are frequently waged between ethnically oriented alliances, and communal violence can erupt, as it did in 2007-2008, when over 1,100 people died.
