Uhuru, Raila meet legislators in Naivasha to discuss the way forward on BBI

By Mourice Seretta

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner, Orange Democratic Movement party (ODM) leader Raila Odinga are today to address members of the Senate and the National Assembly who are friendly to the Building Bridges Initiative in Naivasha.

The legislators have been meeting in Naivasha for a retreat to breakdown the contents of the BBI report as they intensify pushing for common ground with those opposed to the recently released report with the meeting being touted as one aimed at enlightening the participants with the contents of the report ahead of it being debated in parliament.

It is also viewed as one that will also pave way for the collection of one million signatures that will spearhead the process of referendum.

The meeting in Naivasha also comes after a section of Nairobi MPs allied to Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila announced plans to begin the collection of BBI signatures to kick-start the process of Constitutional change saying they will start collecting the one million signatures from today.

The lawmakers led by nominated MP Maina Kamanda ruled out any window to amend the BBI report and called on Kenyans to be ready for a referendum.

“From Monday we shall start collecting signatures for BBI. I am sure in Nairobi alone we can collect up to one million signature required,” Kamanda said.

However, allies of Deputy President William Ruto are claiming they were left out of the meeting saying that the ‘invite-only’ retreat could hinder efforts to build consensus on the Building Bridges Initiative report.