Raila and Uhuru clash on BBI amendments as pressure mounts on the BBI taskforce

 

Pressure mounting on President Uhuru Kenyatta from angry groups pushing him to do away with proposals touching on the Judiciary, IEBC and police.


According to his aides, that is the main reason why the collection of one million signatures suspended last week.


The BBI task force has recommended the creation of Judiciary Ombudsman appointed by the President and Kenya Police Council chaired by the Interior CS. Political parties to nominate IEBC commissioners.


Deputy President William Ruto, clerics and the civil society groups have expressly taken issue with the references saying they will shift the gains made so far in terms of governance.

 

ODM chief Raila Odinga said there would be no more amendments to the report. He added that proposal being amended need minor changes.


It revealed during a meeting with bishops on Tuesday last week where President Kenyatta assured them that there will be a review concerning regarding the three institutions.


In attendance, the bishops included David Oginde (Evangelical Alliance of Kenya), Martin Kivuva (Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops) and Charles Kinyanjui (National Council of Churches of Kenya).


Others were Kepha Omae (Kenya Council of Church Alliances and Ministries), Samwel Mwangi (General Conference of Akorino Churches Assembly) and Stanley Michuki (Kenya National Congress of Pentecostal Churches).


Bishop Kinyanjui said that the President pledged to reviews their reservations against the proposed changes.


“We had a meeting with the President. We presented our memorandum. He committed that our issues will be considered and that there will be consensus on the issues raised by Kenyans,” he said.


“He was open on our issues on IEBC, he asked us for the way forward, " he added.


On Monday, Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said the bill was being amended but could not disclose the specific amendments.


Governors want the IEBC devolved to the counties, a pension fund for themselves and county assembly speakers and a Senate with denial powers on all bills.


Oparanya said they gave their memorandum to the BBI secretariat and said their opinions “ will be captured in the ongoing amendments”


He, however, noted that the team undertaking the amendments should have been a different one and not the one that wrote the BBI report.


“We forwarded our concerns and the report should be amended to capture them. The report was written by experts in their language and we have made recommendations that the language and issues raised should be the language of devolution,” Oparanya said.