The Building Bridges Initiative is set to present over 5.2 million signatures collected by the close of the exercise on Friday. – By Gerald Gekara.
The procession will be led by the BBI Secretariat to the Anniversary Towers office of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) offices where the signatures will be subjected to thorough verification.
ODM leader Raila Odinga earlier said the signature collection drive was closed to pave way for the verification exercise by the IEBC.
The BBI Secretariat headed by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed and former Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru will forward the signatures to the electoral agency.
Mr. Waweru said the Secretariat is confident the referendum process will go on without any mishaps.
“We don’t expect challenges with the IEBC since we earlier engaged the commission on the format to use to present the signatures for verification. We expect the IEBC to validate them within two weeks,” he said.
Despite this, various leaders have urged the Secretariat to consider a consensus and not rush to the referrendum.
Deputy President William Ruto, who has been critical of the BBI process, has urged the two principals, Raila Odinga and the President Uhuru Kenyatta to reconsider the rush to pass the BBI.
Church leaders have also expressed their concern over how the BBI process was being handled.
