The BBI train is gathering momentum with the joint secretariat indicating that 1.5 million Kenyans have so far endorsed the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Bill as of Monday, with more expected to sign before close of business Thursday. – By Enock Mukoma
The 1.5 million signatures include those collected through the online app.
In a tatement read by the j Joint Secretaries headed by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed and former MP Dennis Waweru, indicated that they expected it to hit 2 million by Monday night.
“We therefore, project that we shall be done with the exercise by end of the week and move to the next step,” they said in a statement.
The Constitution requires such initiative to have an endorsement of at least one million signatures from registered voters, which must be verified and approved by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“Making the country’s constitution is a patriotic duty and not a political campaign. Therefore, we would want to once more emphasize that no citizen should be left behind,” the officials said.
The initiative has received overwhelming support from leaders across the country, who have been rallying Kenyans to endorse it, including governors, MPS and MCAS
According to the action plan, the secretariat is expected to submit the signatures and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2020 to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on December 9 for verification.
if IEBC is satisfied with the signatures, it will submit the draft Bill to each county assembly for consideration within three months after the date it was submitted.
“If a county assembly approves the draft Bill within three months after the date it was submitted by the commission, the speaker of the county assembly shall deliver a copy of the draft Bill jointly to the Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament, with a certificate that the county assembly has approved it,” Article 257(6) states.
If the Bill is approved by a majority of the 47 assemblies -at least 24- it shall be introduced in Parliament without immediately.
Junet in the statement urged hardliners to read the document as the only way they will understand that the document is meant for prosperity of the country.
Elsewhere anti bbi proponents have are questioning the involvement of chiefs in the process terming it an illegality.
Deputy president has send mixed signals pouring cold and warm ,with tweets in the recent past supporting the document ,but still insists on consensus.
