A bench of seven judges will now hear and determine appeals filed against a ruling issued by the High Court nullifying the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) process.

Court of Appeal President Daniel Musinga announced the decision on Wednesday flanked by Justices Hannah Okwengu and Roselyn Nambuye after meeting lawyers over the appeals.

The court ordered the main appeal be heard in full instead of hearing applications separately with ODM leader Raila Odinga through his lawyer James Orengo calling for an expedited process.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila rushed to the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the controversial decision by the High Court to stop the to BBI bid to amend the Constitution.

A five-judge bench of the High Court had nullified the BBI referendum process terming it unconstitutional and that the President had violated the Constitution in his BBI push.

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The judges led by Justice Joel Ngugi had also ruled the 14-member BBI taskforce and steering committee spearheaded by the late Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji was also illegal.

The BBI Appeal case will be heard from June 30 to July 2 in open court with oral submissions from appellants and respondents set to be limited to two hours and replies 30 minutes. 

In his Madaraka Day speech in Kisumu on Tuesday, Uhuru bashed the judiciary for stopping the BBI process, accusing it of not respecting the will of the people to decide the fate of BBI.

“While I stand by the rule of law and I will always obey the decisions of the courts, I am also compelled by my position to heed the sovereign and supreme voice of the People of Kenya,” Uhuru said.

The BBI was the brainchild of Uhuru and Raila after their infamous handshake in 2018 and they said it was meant to foster peace, inclusivity and unity and end perennial poll violence.