In Kenya, supreme court blocks president's push for constitution change

The Supreme Court on [31 March] stopped President Uhuru Kenyatta's divisive bid to make sweeping constitutional changes through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which opponents say was an attempt to widen his powers. His estranged deputy and presidential candidate William Ruto has charged the changes would have led to an all-powerful presidency, while Mr Kenyatta argued the proposal would promote power-sharing among competing ethnic groups. In a majority judgment, the Supreme Court, whose ruling is final, upheld a finding by the lower courts that Mr Kenyatta initiated the changes through a constitutional provision exclusively reserved for ordinary citizens. The judges ruled that the President was the promoter of the initiative and that the Constitution does not grant him the powers to amend it through a popular initiative.
Read the full article here: East African