The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) team is racing against time to collect feedback from Kenyans following a sustained push by some politicians for a referendum by June.<\/p>\n
The 14-member steering committee yesterday held a meeting to plan its itinerary for next week following a packed schedule that saw several stakeholders submit their views this week.<\/p>\n
BBI joint secretary Paul Mwangi told The Standard that the team appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in consultation with Opposition leader Raila Odinga will make public its schedule for next week once it is ready.Raila and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka have called for a referendum in June. Raila said the ongoing BBI meetings should close by March and a referendum held soon after.<\/p>\n
This week, Amani National Congress (ANC), Wiper party, Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) and Deputy Governors Forum were among the stakeholders who made their submissions.<\/p>\n
This is even as the government asked Kenyans to read the BBI report to enhance their participation in the process.Government Spokesman (Rtd) Colonel Cyrus Oguna said the BBI team has made copies of the report available on various platforms and asked Kenyans to take their time to go through the document.<\/p>\n
Today, Raila will help drum up support for the process in Narok during the fifth public consultation forum.The engagement will start with a delegates meeting followed by a public rally on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Raila said efforts were being made to accommodate all views from the cosmopolitan region.\u201cGiven the cosmopolitan nature of the seven counties to be represented at this meeting, Raila Odinga urges the coordinators of the two-day event to ensure participants reflect particularly the ethnic and occupational diversities of the counties to include ethnic minorities, herdsmen, farmers, women and the youth,\u201d Raila\u2019s spokesperson Dennis Onyango said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Minority communitiesThe statement was issued following complaints that minority communities in the region were not involved in the planning of the event.Raila appealed to the counties to take full advantage of the opportunity presented by this meeting and the BBI process to soberly and jointly tackle the challenges that have been unique to them from colonial era to date.<\/p>\n
So far, over 30 governors have confirmed that they will attend the Narok rally.Narok Governor Samuel Tunai confirmed that 18 senators and several parliamentarians would attend the event to be held at Narok Stadium to popularise and validate the document.<\/p>\n
He challenged leaders from the county to put aside their political differences and embrace peace during the meeting.\u201cWe expect the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to lead the rally. Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper Party) and African National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi have also confirmed attendance,\u201d Mr Tunai said.He said there shall be a consultation meeting today with the delegates from three Maa-speaking counties of Narok, Kajiado, and Samburu ahead of the D-Day on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Maa counties are expected to present a joint memorandum to the BBI committee. Some of the issues expected to feature are historical land injustices, agricultural value-addition and marginalisation.Tunai called on local leaders to put aside their political differences and instead focus on the issues affecting the concerned counties.His sentiments came barely a day after Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina found himself on the spot after making remarks on a TV show seen to discourage \u201cnon-locals\u201d from presenting their views at the BBI meeting.<\/p>\n
But Raila , through Mr Onyango, stressed the importance of including all communities in the programme.Consultative meetingRaila is expected to attend the BBI consultative meeting today at Maasai Mara University. He will then attend a BBI rally at the Narok Stadium.<\/p>\n
Senator Ledama\u2019s sentiments caught the attention of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission officials, who warned leaders against making statements that can polarise the country.In response, Ledama maintained that his sentiments were \u201cplain facts\u201d, especially on the issue of land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) team is racing against time to collect feedback from Kenyans following a sustained push by some politicians for a referendum by June. The 14-member steering committee yesterday held a meeting to plan its itinerary for next week following a packed schedule that saw several stakeholders submit their views this week. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,10,12],"tags":[235,309,242,136,312],"class_list":["post-2933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-policy","tag-bbi","tag-bbi-report","tag-raila-odinga","tag-uhuru-kenyatta","tag-william-ruto"],"yoast_head":"\n