After 17 months, Building Bridges task force concludes assignment

Seventeen months since the Building Bridges Initiative was crafted, following the March 9th handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then political nemesis Raila Odinga, the taskforce formally winds up its assignment on Wednesday.

BBI, under the chairmanship of Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji met on Tuesday to tidy up its report, and meets for the last sitting on Wednesday to adopt a raft of recommendations they arrived at, on resolving 9 key issues; ethnic antagonism, lack of national ethos, inclusivity, devolution, divisive elections, security, corruption, shared prosperity and responsibility.

Joint secretary Paul Mwangi confirmed that the taskforce will submit its recommendations to Kenyatta and Odinga in form of a report. Though tight-lipped on the details, Mwangi hinted at recommendations that would be a ‘drastic departure’ from the current state of affairs.

How the proposed prescription will be dispensed is upon Kenyatta and Odinga, according to the BBI team.

Some of the proposals that were submitted during the BBI sittings include expanding the executive by creating a prime minister’s slot with two deputies, increasing devolved share of resources to 40% of the national budget, tightening the noose on corrupt public officers and picking cabinet ministers from parliament.

Recommendations to alter the system of government, devolution and bill of rights will necessitate amendments to the constitution, through a referendum.

Kenyatta and Odinga have since urged Kenyans to support BBI findings.

The BBI team will await for the President to return from his trip to Japan and Russia to hand in its report.