BBI SUFFERS ANOTHER BIG BLOW

Muslim leaders on Sunday, November 22 tore into the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report stating that it’s taking the country back from the gains made since 2010.

Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslim (Supkem) leaders stated the BBI report will not bring any reforms Kenyans desperately desire.

The Muslim leaders further called on President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga to call off the constitutional amendment process through the BBI and instead focus their energies on fighting Covid-19 that is currently ravaging the county.

“BBI will create an imperial president. It will weaken the checks and balances that have been put in place to check the executive,” Supkem Chairman Hassan Ole Naado said.

This comes barely a week after Catholic bishops poked holes on the BBI report urging the two handshake partners to open for a consensus building before submitting it to a referendum.

The bishops also questioned the rush to amend the constitution amid the surge in coronavirus infections, it is not the right time “to carry out fundamental constitutional reforms.”

They expressed their fears that if the report is passed the way it is, it will create an imperial president, dilute the independence of the police service and create a conflict of interest in parliament.

On Thursday, November 19, the BBI secretariat joint chairpersons Junet Moamed and Dennis Waweru called off the launch of the signature collection drive following a meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto at State House Nairobi on Wednesday, November 18.

The religious leaders are said to have mounted pressure to the president in their recent meeting to accommodate Deputy President William Ruto’s views in the report.

It was reported that they cautioned Uhuru on the perceived isolation of his from the BBI process stating that it was likely to divide the country further.

From The Kenya Herald