The cloud of uncertainty which had been hanging over today\u2019s Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) meeting at Bukhungu stadium, appears to have finally cleared.<\/p>\n
This is after the police outlawed a parallel rally that was to be held in Mumias.But a number of leaders allied to Deputy President William Ruto, led by former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, insisted they would go on with the parallel rally, raising fears of a possible clash with the police.<\/p>\n
This comes amid claims Amani National Congress (ANC) leader\u00a0Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang\u2019ula of Ford Kenya would attend the Bukhungu meeting.<\/p>\n
Mudavadi and Wetang\u2019ula had earlier indicated that they would not attend the meeting since it was meant to install Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.A source yesterday told the Saturday Standard that President Uhuru Kenyatta called Mudavadi and requested him to attend the Bukhungu meeting.\u201cIn the conversation they also agreed on their rules of engagement moving forward,\u201d said the source.<\/p>\n
Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi, who is the Bungoma County Ford Kenya chairman, said Wetang\u2019ula would attend the Bukhungu meeting.\u201cWetang\u2019ula is a leader in this region and we have asked him to come for the meeting. I want to confirm he won\u2019t attend the Mumias meeting since it was cancelled by the police and there is nobody in Mumias. I\u2019m talking as Ford Kenya chairman in Bungoma and he (Wetang\u2019ula) will join us,\u201d said Wamunyinyi.<\/p>\n
He said lawmakers from Western Kenya are in full support of the BBI initiative and therefore Wetang\u2019ula and Mudavadi have no option but to attend the Bukhungu meeting.<\/p>\n
Expected<\/strong><\/p>\n Yesterday, a group of MPs joined Oparanya and a host of governors and Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa in inspecting the final preparations at Bukhungu Stadium ahead of the meeting.Over 50,000 people are expected to attend the meeting.Lurambi MP Titus Khamala said he had talked to Mudavadi, who he said had accepted to attend the BBI rally.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to assure you that my party leader Musalia Mudavadi has confirmed that he will attend the BBI meeting today. I have prayed for him and he will be here tomorrow. We are not party to that meeting in Mumias town,\u201d said Bishop Khamala, an ANC MP.Lugari MP Ayub Savula told Mudavadi and Wetang\u2019ula that they should lead by example by attending the meeting and not just confirm their attendance and fail to show up.<\/p>\n \u201cAny Luhya who will not be part of today\u2019s meeting is an enemy of the community. Mudavadi and Wetang\u2019ula have no option but to attend the BBI meeting since it\u2019s the final we are having as we forge the way forward in forming the next government,\u201d said Savula.<\/p>\n He asked the two to emulate leaders from Kisii County who attended their meeting in large numbers, including Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang\u2019i.Savula said the Western leaders should stop dividing the community further.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where the national cake is being distributed and a deciding factor on where and how we shall form the next government,\u201d he said.It was not possible to confirm from Mudavadi and Wetang\u2019ula whether they would attend as they did not respond to our calls.Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala said they would take a roll call of all leaders who would attend the meeting.<\/p>\n His sentiments were echoed by Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli who reminded Mudavadi and Wetang\u2019ula that he would not be installing any leader today as the region\u2019s spokesman.\u201cWe are not installing anyone and this will be done in December 2021 and I will fund it alone. We must take someone to the negotiating table for 2022 presidency but we can\u2019t be cowards and refuse to attend BBI initiative that will give us the direct ticket to form the next government,\u201d said Atwoli.<\/p>\n He told Mudavadi and Wetang\u2019ula that they will be thrown to political oblivion if they fail to attend the BBI meeting, as the region has no deficit of leaders.\u201cYou want to be installed as the region\u2019s political kingpin after people have fought for power.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t do that. We don\u2019t have a deficit of leaders in the region and anybody can take a flag.\u201cIf you are not in the leadership corridor, you won\u2019t be part of the next government even when you have a lot of money,\u201d said Atwoli.He said the executive would be expanded to have the position of prime minister and two deputies so that all regions can be accommodated.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must get our mathematics right the way Western governors are doing. Mudavadi and Wetang\u2019ula haven\u2019t stolen any money and they have a clean record to ascend to power but when I hear them and their lieutenants throwing insults at us, I pity them. Let them be part of this initiative,\u201d said Atwoli.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The cloud of uncertainty which had been hanging over today\u2019s Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) meeting at Bukhungu stadium, appears to have finally cleared. This is after the police outlawed a parallel rally that was to be held in Mumias.But a number of leaders allied to Deputy President William Ruto, led by former Kakamega Senator Boni […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[235,318,320],"class_list":["post-968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-bbi","tag-moses-wetangula","tag-musalia-mudavadi"],"yoast_head":"\n