ODM urges its MPs to support BBI in its entirety
The Orange Democratic Party has made a rallying call to its MPs to align themselves accordingly with the party position on the BBI.
In a statement National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi says, “It is the party’s position that Parliament should pass the BBI Bill as it is, in its entirety.”
He appealed to the party Members of Parliament and party supporters to prepare to vote for the Bill once it is presented to them in the referendum.
Parliament will commence a two day special sitting starting Wednesday to deliberate on a number of critical national issues among them the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill 2020 or the BBI Bill as it is popularly known.
“As a party, we may not have got everything we had wished for. In fact, no party has got everything it wished for. But there are some very important gains in the BBI that we would not want to throw out just because we did not get everything,” He said.
Mbadi says ODM has always advocated for the strengthening of Devolved units and increased funding for those units. The BBI Bill increases funding to counties and extends funds to the wards. That is a gain we can’t throw away.
He said the BBI Bill has some very practical and radical proposals on how to stop corruption from being a way of life in Kenya.
“ODM has always stood up for equitable sharing of the wealth of the nation. Equity has been our rallying call as a party since our inception. The BBI has some very solid proposals on how to ensure shared prosperity in the country. We do not want to throw away those proposals,” He said.
Mbadi said said, “ODM supporters have borne the brunt of election violence in this country. We know what happened in 2007, 2013 and 2017. BBI has some solid proposals on how to end the culture of election violence and the winner takes all brand of our politics. We don’t want to lose those proposals.”
He said the Bill has some very solid proposals on how to help our youth and turn them into innovators and entrepreneurs, how to make them creators and not seekers of jobs, and how to make them self-reliant.
Mbadi said the ODM party will support the Bill to the end saying “We stand solidly, side by side, with H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta and his brother Rt Hon Raila Odinga in their quest to fix Kenya through partnership and honest engagement.”
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