{"id":14022,"date":"2020-09-07T18:57:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T18:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=14022"},"modified":"2020-09-07T18:57:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T18:57:19","slug":"get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year","title":{"rendered":"Get ready for referendum in March next year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Authors:\u00a0Moses Nyamori and Roselyne Obala\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga are burning the midnight oil to have a referendum by March next year, The Standard has established.<\/p>\n<p>Allies of the two leaders yesterday confirmed that the much-awaited Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report could be out by the end of this month.\u00a0This would consequently pave the way for a referendum ahead of the 2022 General Election in what is set to charge the country\u2019s political landscape as well as shape Uhuru\u2019s succession.<\/p>\n<p>It has emerged that the main political parties backing the handshake have been tasked to identify county assemblies \u2013 which they have absolute control of \u2013 to prepare them in the fast-tracking passage of the document once submitted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to the 47 assemblies.<\/p>\n<p>The details come hot on the heels of yet another strategy meeting at Central Organisation of Trade Unions Secretary General Francis Atwoli\u2019s Ildamat home in Kajiado County on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting attended by Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, Homa Bay Woman Rep Gladys Wanga, Fatuma Gedi (Wajir), Mishi Mboko (Likoni), Naisula Lesuuda (Samburu West), former Nairobi Speaker Beatrice Elachi, and National Gender and Equality Commission chairperson Priscilla Nyokabi discussed the resumption of\u00a0BBI rallies.<\/p>\n<p>The Saturday meeting followed a similar one attended by Kanu chairman Gideon Moi, Siaya Senator James Orengo, 2013 presidential candidate Peter Kenneth, National Assembly Deputy Majority Whip Maore Maoka, and other influential pro-handshake politicians.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the over five-hour long discussions at the weekend was the role of \u201cTeam Embrace Kenya\u201d \u2013 a women lobby group in support of BBI \u2013 in rallying the country to back the envisioned amendments to the supreme law.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-group readmore my-3\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sources indicated that preparations for BBI rallies resumption were in top gear following reports of a dip in the Covid-19 infection rate in the country. The rallies came to a halt after the first case of the viral disease was reported in Kenya in March.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Saturday meeting was part of our strategy for BBI. We are prepared to drum up support for the BBI and referendum,\u201d said Atwoli, while confirming the meeting. \u201cWe are sure there would be minimal opposition to the document once it is made public by the two principals anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone opposed to the proposed changes is daydreaming and will be shocked by the outcome,\u201d said Atwoli. Atwoli\u2019s home has of late become the venue for political scheming in the race to succeed Uhuru.<\/p>\n<p>National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi and Maore told\u00a0The Standard\u00a0that Uhuru and Raila are likely to receive the report this month.\u00a0The leaders projected that the entire BBI process, once the document is made public, would take about five months before Kenyans can go to the ballot to decide on the proposed constitutional amendments.<\/p>\n<p>The mandate of the 14-member task force committee chaired by Yusuf Haji (Garissa) expired on June 30 and they are just waiting to hand over the report to the two principals.\u00a0\u201cWe are currently strategising to resume the BBI campaigns because we expect the report to be made public this month,\u201d said Maore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe moment the report is handed over to the two leaders, we will hit the ground running. We should be ready for a referendum early next year; around March,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The Igembe North MP said BBI enjoys the backing of the majority county assemblies, stating that it would not require any sweat to bag approval of at least 24 assemblies.\u00a0Similar views were shared by Mbadi, who revealed that Raila told them to prepare for a referendum \u201csoon\u201d.\u00a0\u201cRaila told us the report will be out very soon. I would not expect it to go beyond this month. Once it is out we will have a public discourse on the proposals,\u201d said Mbadi.\u00a0\u201cThe timelines for the process would be determined by the recommendations of the task force. But I can tell you that a referendum will not go beyond March next year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Wanga yesterday disclosed that the weekend meeting discussed what is in the report for women, saying female politicians have to be at the national table.\u00a0\u201cWe want to ensure women\u2019s issues are protected by the proposed changes to the constitution. As women leaders we are more than prepared to hit the road running in rallying the country once the report is handed over to the two leaders,\u201d said Wanga.<\/p>\n<p>The handshake team would be required to collect at least one million signatures of voters in support of the proposed changes should they take the popular initiative route, and submit the signatures alongside a referendum Bill.\u00a0The commission would then be expected to submit the Bill to the 47 county assemblies once it verifies the signatures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authors:\u00a0Moses Nyamori and Roselyne Obala\u00a0 AfricaPress-Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga are burning the midnight oil to have a referendum by March next year, The Standard has established. Allies of the two leaders yesterday confirmed that the much-awaited Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report could be out by the end of this month.\u00a0This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[254,362,313],"class_list":["post-14022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-odm-leader-raila-odinga","tag-president-uhuru-kenyatta","tag-referendum"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Get ready for referendum in March next year - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga are burning the midnight oil to have a referendum by March next year, The\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get ready for referendum in March next year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga are burning the midnight oil to have a referendum by March next year, The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-07T18:57:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/09\/get_ready_for_refere5f55f6de05153.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Get ready for referendum in March next year\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-07T18:57:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year\"},\"wordCount\":803,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/09\/get_ready_for_refere5f55f6de05153.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ODM leader Raila Odinga\",\"President Uhuru Kenyatta\",\"Referendum\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/policy\/get-ready-for-referendum-in-march-next-year\",\"name\":\"Get ready for referendum in March next year - 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