Economic Freedom Party (EFP) has hit out at North Eastern politicians allied to Deputy President William Ruto for opposing the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).Party chairman Issack Abbey (pictured) yesterday said the region will not allow \u2018selfish politicians\u2019 to lock out the region from the push to have a more inclusive government.<\/p>\n
Mr Abbey singled out Mandera Governor Ali Roba and Senator Mohamud Maalim for their non-committal to the initiative. He claimed Roba is a Deputy President William Ruto’s ally and was out to alienate the area from backing the proposed amendments to the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are concerned by the lackluster manner our governor and other senior leaders from the region have adopted on the important national matter of BBI.<\/p>\n
It is no time for fence-sitters or watermelons, we either support BBI or we are against it and face the consequences,\u201d said Abbey in a statement.The party which backed Uhuru\u2019s re-election is pushing to have the next BBI consultative meeting held in the region after the first two in Kisii and Kakamega.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be unfortunate for us not to take this golden opportunity presented by BBI to address those issues given that we come from a region which has seen years of neglect and marginalisation, inter-clan fighting and insecurity to drag us to the painful past. We must move on along with other Kenyans,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In a direct attack targeted at Roba, Abbey said: \u201cWe call upon Mandera Governor to stop misleading his political sponsors that he will be able to scuttle BBI process in Mandera County.\u201dThe party reiterated its commitment in backing the BBI and assured President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga of their unwavering support.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur people are united behind the truce between Uhuru and Raila which has given birth to the BBI and we want to commit our support for the Building Bridges Initiative that will not only unite the country but also give equal chance to all Kenyans to participate in the decision-making of our country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Abbey said that the decision by Roba to align himself with Ruto is likely to hurt the region in terms of development, citing the recent meeting the President had with governors in Mombasa but was skipped by Roba.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a pity our county was not involved in such an important meeting with the Head of State. Our people will not be sold to the highest bidder. We will not allow that,\u201d he charged.The party also lauded the president\u2019s resolve last Friday to flush out terror elements, particularly Al-Shabaab militants in the North Eastern and Coastal part of the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Economic Freedom Party (EFP) has hit out at North Eastern politicians allied to Deputy President William Ruto for opposing the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).Party chairman Issack Abbey (pictured) yesterday said the region will not allow \u2018selfish politicians\u2019 to lock out the region from the push to have a more inclusive government. Mr Abbey singled out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,10],"tags":[265,314,612,607,611],"class_list":["post-1005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-parties","tag-building-bridges-initiative","tag-deputy-president-william-ruto","tag-economic-freedom-party","tag-efp","tag-mandera-governor-ali-roba"],"yoast_head":"\n