Martha Karua on BBI: We are not going back to dictatorship

Martha Karua on BBI: We are not going back to dictatorship

NARC Kenya leader Martha Karua has criticized President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga over what she terms as attempts towards dictatorship.

On Sunday, she said Kenyans ought to resist calls for a referendum that is ‘illegitimate, illegal and ill-timed’.

“Let Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga know that we are not going back to dictatorship. We shall not allow the blood, sweat and tears of the many gallant Kenyans that fought and finally toppled the KANU dictatorship to be in vain–not on our watch,” Ms. Karua said.

She was speaking during a Press conference alongside Crawn Trust Executive Director Daisy Amdany, economist David Ndii as well as activists Jerotich Seii and Boniface Mwangi.

According to her, President Kenyatta and Mr. Odinga should be focused on containing the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating hardships that Kenyans are experiencing.

The Senior Counsel averred that COVID-19 is leaving many families destitute with millions having lost their livelihoods and going hungry.

She cast aspersions on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) drive terming it a concerted effort to manufacture consent to the effect that Kenya faces a constitutional moment.

Ms. Karua, who is known not to mince her words, further lambasted the initiative as a ‘cynical mockery of constitutionalism, the rule of law and good governance’.

“The BBI is a creature of the 2018 handshake between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga following the contested 2017 presidential election outcome,” she said adding that at no point did the duo advise Kenyans that they would be out to review the Constitution.

The former Justice Minister discredited the BBI as a culmination of a counter-reformist agenda that began with the controversial Security Laws amendment in 2014 which according to her has continued unabated since then.

She threw cold water on the March 2018 handshake saying that since the much-publicized peace deal, Kenya’s democracy has been distorted and the role of the minority party (opposition) completely eroded.

“The opposition is more government than the government….as for Raila Odinga, his erstwhile compatriots in the political reform are no longer certain he is the same person,” she said.

“We are here to reach out of the other Kenyans of like minds to join us as we build the Linda Katiba Movement to defend the constitution, defeat impunity and advance the transformational agenda that we set for ourselves a decade ago. We assure Kenyans that constitution of Kenya is still good document that was proclaimed as one of the most progressive in the world when we promulgated it in August of 2010,” she added.

Ms. Karua and and members of the new movement have indicated that they will be convening Kenyans to consult on how to defend the Constitution.

The movement includes political leaders, professionals activists and ‘active’ citizens.

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BBI karua linda katiba movement

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