Judgment is being awaited in Kenya as the Court of Appeal is billed to deliver its verdict today, Friday, on the controversial three-year quest of the Kenyan President to change the constitution.

The ruling, watchers say, could shake up the political landscape less than a year before elections.

Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, had argued that the initiative will help end repeated cycles of election violence in the East African country.

The proposed reforms came about following a reconciliation between Kenyatta and his erstwhile opponent Raila Odinga and a famous handshake between the two men after post-election fighting in 2017 left dozens of people dead.

Kenyatta had blamed the prevailing winner-takes-all electoral system in the country for polls unrest, proposing the “Building Bridges Initiative (BBI)”.

The initiative therefore seeks particularly to dilute the current winner-take-all electoral system by expanding the executive and parliament.

Election campaigns in Kenya are often fought between ethnically-based alliances and communal violence can flare, notably in 2007-8 when more than 1,100 people died.

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