Drive to popularise BBI in Mt Kenya

Allies of President Uhuru Kenyatta from Mt Kenya region are set to hit the ground running before the end of this month to popularise the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.

The five-member team has revealed that it will conduct massive civic education in Mt Kenya to counter the narrative that the document is not popular in the President’s backyard.

The team is set to embark on educating the masses in Central Kenya amid reports based on the open letter by Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata stating that BBI is not popular in the region and risks being rejected should a referendum be held. 

Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru is chairing the team. Other members are National Assembly Deputy Majority Whip Maoka Maore, who is also vice-chairman of the team, Embu Woman Rep Jane Wanjuki, the deputy secretary, Limuru MP Peter Mwathi (organising secretary) and Kigumo MP Ruth Mwaniki, the secretary of the caucus.

Senator Kibiru yesterday told the Nation that the team has been meeting various stakeholders from the region, with the final meeting set for today before they take the message to the people.

Unpopular in the region

“We’ve been meeting both the elected leaders and non-elected ones, and even those who vied in the last election but lost. We want to have one message to our people when we hit the ground,” Mr Kibiru said.

“We have also been meeting governors and technocrats. We hope we’ll agree in our final meeting today, then start the campaigns, before the end of this month.”

Mr Maore exuded confidence that, soon their presence will be felt within the region as he dismissed Mr Kang’ata’s letter that BBI is unpopular in the region.

“We’ve already started working. Our focus this year is BBI. We don’t want to mix issues,” Mr Maore said.

Mr Mwathi said the team is now focussed on printing many copies that will be distributed to the people so that when they start engaging them next week, they will be on the same page.

“People have not read the document, so the first thing is to give them copies then explain to them the benefits they stand to gain by passing the report’s recommendations,” Mr Mwathi told the Nation.

National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya said the team will soon come up with their schedule of popularising the document in the region.

“They will release their schedule at the appropriate time,” Mr Kimunya said yesterday.

Daunting task

The team, which comprises mainly leaders loyal to President Kenyatta, faces a daunting task of changing the narrative by Mr Kang’ata that BBI is unpopular in the President’s backyard.

In an interview with Gikuyu FM stations on Monday, the President warned Mt Kenya residents against rejecting BBI, saying, they stand to lose should they be misled into rejecting the document.

He told the region to tread carefully on leaders who have promised them development, which they can get if they adopt BBI.

Referring to the proposed 70 additional constituencies, where Nairobi will get 12, Central 11, Rift Valley 23, as well as entrenchment into law the one man, one shilling, one vote approach in sharing national resources, the President asked the region to take the win.

He asked the region to allow him to focus on development, promising round-the-country tours at the tail-end of his term.

Last week, ODM leader Raila Odinga met with Kikuyu council of elders and Githurai traders, and vowed to tour Mt Kenya region to popularise the BBI. He said the first visit will be in Githurai before embarking on other regions.

The former Prime Minister urged the traders to support the document, pointing out that the proposal to increase county allocation to 35 per cent will lead to massive development in counties, which will, in turn, change the fortunes of young people.

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