Kenyan Court Blocks Attempt to Change Constitution   

NAIROBI - Kenya’s Court of Appeal ruled Friday that a plan by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga to change the Constitution was unlawful.

Justice Gatembu Kairu said the power to change the Constitution lay with the citizens, not the political elite. “Abolishing or abrogating provisions of the Constitution in such a way to alter its foundation and structure is therefore not envisaged under Chapter 16 of the Constitution," Kairu said. "That is a preserve of people exercising sovereign power, which belongs to them in accordance with the Article 1 of the Constitution.” Kenyatta and Odinga unveiled what they called the Building Bridges Initiative in 2018, a year after a hotly contested election almost split the country.