IS ANNE WAIGURU DUMPING BBI?

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has expressed reservations about the team picked to popularise the Building Bridges Initiative in Mt Kenya region.

In a message to the team and to President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday, January 20, she said that it was important to choose influential leaders to drive the process.

The Mt Kenya BBI Secretariat comprises Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru, MPs Maoka Maore (Ntonyiri), Ruth Mwaniki (Kigumo), Peter Mwathi (Limuru) and Jane Njiru (Embu).

She argued that the BBI is a political process and thus ought to have been spearheaded by people who command sufficient influence in the region.

“While I wish them all the best, I must remind them and their appointers that BBI is a political process and if it is not led by people the community recognises as political influencers, it will have challenges, and that is the nature of politics,” she said.

Speaking on being left out of the Mt Kenya BBI Secretariat meeting at Thika Greens Resort, the governor stated that her focus was executing her mandate for the Kirinyaga people.

“I was not invited to Thika Greens in the meeting that selected the BBI popularisation team. However, I’m too busy to worry about being excluded. I wish the team all the best,” she said.

When questioned about whether she would continue supporting the constitutional amendment, Waiguru responded that she will wait to be advised and then make decisions on how best to engage.

“It is my view that for it to pass smoothly, we need to move from making BBI a competitive to a collaborative process by bringing everyone on board, including those with divergent views, so that we all own the document as opposed to having competing internal and external camps,” Waiguru said.

Waiguru was a member of Team Embrace which comprised women leaders in both Jubilee and ODM and traversed the country to popularise the BBI.

She was also a noticeable feature on the BBI rallies held at the beginning of 2020 before they were called off after the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

Also conspicuously left out of the Mt Kenya BBI Secretariat is Nyeri Town MP Ngunjuri Wambugu who said he would continue popularising the document.

By Kenyans.co.ke