Kenyan Court Slams Brakes on President's Constitutional Changes

NAIROBI - Kenya's High Court ruled Thursday that a drive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to change the constitution was illegal, stopping what his critics have called a political move designed to check his deputy, whom he has fallen out with publicly.

Parliament has already passed the proposed amendments, popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative, which mark the biggest change to the East African nation's government structure since a new constitution was adopted in 2010. But issuing a ruling on several challenges lodged by various parties, a five-judge bench of the court said Kenyatta had used a constitutional provision reserved for citizens to initiate the changes, making the process illegal. "The president cannot be both player and umpire in the same match," said Jairus Ngaah, one of the judges.