Mudavadi now wants Uhuru to form another BBI committee for final reactions

Mudavadi now wants Uhuru to form another BBI committee for final reactions

Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi now wants President Uhuru Kenyatta to form a committee that will consolidate emerging contentious issues in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.

The ANC leader is urging the President to open a final window to improve the document to factor in divergent views that emerged during the unveiling of the final report at Bomas of Kenya.

“He (President Kenyatta) can still have a small structured committee to take the final reactions,” said Mudavadi during a function on Tuesday.

This even as Parliamentary leadership lays the groundwork and readies itself to lobby its members to enact laws that will set in motion the implementation roadmap for the BBI report.

National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya says laws on referendum and IEBC will be ready by December to kick start the implementation process.

Kimunya bears the burden of chaperoning the next critical phase of the BBI report in Parliament, with 14 proposed pieces of legislation and a Constitution Amendment Bill 2020.

Kimunya now says a referendum law will be in place before end of the year; there are two referenda bills pending in the National Assembly.

“We are meeting to harmonize the two bills by the two committees to make one the anchor bill and then onboard amendments from the other bill,” he says.

Equally, the National Assembly is mooting a bill to restructure the IEBC to have it fully constituted before the referendum and have the current commissioners vetted for suitability to continue being in office.

“The bill proposes a selection panel for the appointing of new commissioners to fill the vacancies, if they perform well in the referendum, who knows, Kenyans wanaweza sema waendelee mpaka 2022,” adds Kimunya.

The two laws deemed critical in breathing life to the implementation roadmap of the BBI report with barely two years to the next General Election, the majority leader warns time is of the essence to enact these laws and a referendum can only be possible within 2021.

“A referendum can only be possible before August 27, 2021, at least one year before the next General Election,” he said.

The constitution provides for amendment through either parliamentary or popular initiative; the government is keen to take the document back to the people for their verdict.

“It should not be seen as if Kimunya is bulldozing it through Parliament or the President and Raila bulldozing it through Parliament, this should be a process owned by the people,” adds Kimunya.

Tags:

President Uhuru Kenyatta BBI report Musalia Mudavadi Amos Kimunya

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