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BBI proponents hint at marathon campaigns from New Year

 


Allies of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga have hinted on a back-to-back marathon of campaigns to market BBI in the New Year.

Political confidants of the two political 'brothers' have revealed plans to launch aggressive countrywide campaigns to popularise the Building Bridges Initiative process.

The campaigns will precede the submission of the BBI bill to amend the Constitution to the 47 county assemblies by the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission.

“We will unveil a tight programme from next week that will take us to most counties to popularise our bill,” said nominated MP Maina Kamanda, a key Uhuru ally.

According to the former Starehe MP, the campaigns will be spearheaded by regional leaders leading various teams that will be unveiled “soon”.

“There are regional leaders who will take the lead in popularising the bill in their respective regions,” Kamanda said insisting that the next three months would be key for the BBI process.

He added: “We want to finish with the BBI process and move on to do other things, the referendum should happen before June or thereabout.”

Homa Bay women representative Gladys Wanga told the Star that the BBI train will soon hit the road with major campaign programmes planned in the coming months.

“It is clear that Kenyans are ready for a referendum, there is no doubt about that because we are receiving positive feedback from them. Soon we shall hit the ground,” Wanga, a key Raila ally said.

Siaya women representative Christine Ombaka said the country is gearing up for a historic moment to review the 2010 constitution without delay.

“We hope that we conclude the process before August next year so we can initiate radical reforms to required to guarantee free and fair elections in 2022,” Ombaka said.

She added: “We intend to take the message to the Kenyans at the grassroots in popularisation campaigns so that they can own the document.”

The Covid-19 pandemic had slowed down the BBI campaigns, but the process is expected to gather pace from January with the proponents maintaining it will go on irrespective of the measures.

The BBI secretariat co-chaired by Dennis Waweru(Ex-Dagorretti MP) and Junet Mohamed (Suna East)is expected to be the focal point in coordinating the popularisation activities.

The IEBC is working on the signature verification exercise before to ensure the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is backed by at least a million registered voters.

The Constitution does not spell out the timeliness within which the Commission must complete the process and submit the bill to the County Assemblies.

However, the MCAs will have at most three months to dispense with the Bill before relevant speakers send them to the National Assembly and Senate for deliberation.

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