The long awaited verdict on whether the Deputy President William Ruto will throw his support behind the Building Bridges Initiative ended in a rather confusing stand off, as Ruto urges his boss to consider pushing the referendum to 2022. – By Gerald Gekara.
The move, according to the DP, will give more room to accomodate groups that have raised issues over the BBI recommendations.
Ruto has proposed the referendum be held alongside the 2022 General Election in order to minimise the costs of getting to an electoral process twice in two years.
“We are saying as responsible leaders, we are in the middle of a pandemic, we are in a financial crisis. We want a candid discussion, to be persuaded why we can’t do the referendum in 2022.” He said.
On the mechanism as to how the referendum should be posed to Kenyans, Ruto said outstanding contentious issues needed to be subjected into a vote, instead of forcing Kenyan into a Yes / No dilemma.
We have made progress but..
“We have made progress in the document so that it accommodates everyone. Our goal is to ensure that we do not have a contested referendum. There is a mechanism that can allow us to vote on issues rather than personalization of the referendum. We can make it more progressive by providing a mechanism for Kenyans to vote on particular issues.” said Ruto.
Flanked by a multitude of 150 legislators and senators, Ruto pleaded with the BBI Taskforce to consider channeling the finances allocated to the BBI to revive the economy that is already battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an economic recession.
The 3 point agendas will define the course in which politicians both allied and against the report. However pundits argue the DP opened the doors to further confusion over his ‘opposupport’ stance against the BBI Report.
The leaders convened at his Karen residence, where they were holed up in a closed door meeting to deliberate on the wayforward.
This was after the BBI Secretariat announced the taskforce had already doubled the required threshold to have the proposals tabled in county assemblies.
