Will the BBI survive political realignment?

By Winfridah Muthee

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report has always elicited mixed reactions from politicians, clergymen and Kenyans in general since it’s launching at the Bomas of Kenya several months ago.

People say trust deficit is high among politicians and it is sad to note that leaders are motivated by power, influence and money.

In politics new pacts are made with promises of inclusion into power arrangements.

With political realignments taking shape ahead of the general elections many things are bound to change.

In previous events we noted that some politicians aligned to DP were critics of the BBI.

Ruto seems to have mobilized his supporters against the changes.

The critics warned of potential pitfalls if the bill was passed.

It has now emerged that BBI Bill passed by some counties had anomalies.

Only 13 county assemblies debated and approved the correct BBI bill and the Bill at the National Assembly is differing with the one at the Senate.

Paul Mwangi, who is the former Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) task force joint secretary said they presented only a single copy of the Bill to the IEBC that was to be transmitted to the 47 county assemblies.

This therefore suggests the electoral body is being accused of the sabotage.

Mwangi said the parliament is only expected to approve or reject as provided for in Article 257 of the constitution.

Nyamira County Assembly had approved the Bomas BBI draft. After realizing the mistake, the county assembly speaker amended it and sent the correct bill.

The committee have now split. There are those who opine to edit the bill while a section of the members have opposed the same.

Some want to push for the opening of the bill for review in parliament while others want to vote for the bill without amending it.

They are yet to decide whether to amend the BBI bill or not.

The Bill will be tabled in parliament next week.

The supporters of BBI and those rooting for constitutional changes now say it is a plot to derail the exercise.