Central Kenya leaders to defy Uhuru if BBI proposes Parliamentary system

Central Kenya leaders to defy Uhuru if BBI proposes Parliamentary system

A section of leaders from Mt. Kenya region have continued to express their reservations over the content of the long awaited Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report, saying they will not support the report if it will not have addressed critical issues of representation and equal distribution of resources.

Leading the onslaught against the inititaive championed by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, is Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri who said that the constitutional change should be an all-inclusive process not a self-preservation scheme to secure positions for certain leaders

Kusiwe na watu ambao wanataka kujianglia wenyewe, ati kama ni katiba inageuzwa inageuzwa kwasababu ya kabila fulani ama kwasababu ya watu fulani… ” said CS Kiunjuri.

Kiunjuri joined other Central Kenya leaders who have since expressed their reservations on the BBI report.

The leaders from the populous Mount Kenya region last week expressed their fears over murmurs that the report, was likely to recommend a parliamentary system of government.

The legislators now say that the BBI report must address key issues which includes inequality of the vote that they claim has seen some regions under-represented as compared to others despite disparities in population and that as a result.

The affected areas, they claim, gets low allocation of resources under the devolved governance.

Hatujasema hatutaki katiba kubadilishwa lakini tunataka ichunguzwe kabisa na iwekwe sawasawa…,” added Kiunjuri.

The leaders were speaking at the launch of a tree planting exercise in Laikipia County and the same reservations were shared by the Inua Dada group who were in Turkana.

Tunajua mahali tunataka kwenda hata hio BBI niyakutu-confuse. BBI kama haitakuwa na pesa ya cancer hatutaikubali…one man, one vote, one shilling,” they said.

This comes just two weeks after the taskforce formally wound up its assignment seventeen months since it was crafted.

Under the chairmanship of Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji, the team met 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 then, that the taskforce would 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.

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