ODM Leader Raila Odinga has come out to publicly state that there will be no fundamental changes to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.
Raila, who on Monday appeared to have allowed a window for amendments, said on Tuesday the document is locked-in for new ideas but there will be polishing up to remove ambiguities.
His latest statement is likely to spark yet another wave of bitter confrontations with politicians who have been pushing for amendments to the document to build consensus ahead of the referendum.
While meeting leaders from pastoralist communities on Monday, the former Prime Minister assured them that their views would be factored into the report. He also indicated that they will appoint three experts to sit with BBI technocrats.
“The issues will be taken on board. The technical team will sit down and look at them,” Raila said after meeting leaders from the pastoralist community in Nairobi.
The statement was interpreted as opening the document for further amendments and was celebrated, especially by DP William Ruto’s wing that had raised a number of reservations on the document.
“The public commitment to amend the BBI to include these proposals is a welcome step towards consensus. With this and other petitions accepted, a non-contested discourse is in the horizon,” Ruto tweeted on Monday.
But the celebrations seem to be short-lived after Raila ruled out introduction of new ideas but only minor editorial changes to make it explicit.
“There is significantly little chance of significant new ideas being brought into the BBI document ahead of the referendum, except for editorial work to make it explicit on demands by various groups where it sounds vague or general, as is the case with the issues of pastoralists,” Raila said on Tuesday.
“It is basically done and there is little likelihood that new ideas will be pushed into it. However, there are groups that feel their views were not captured in the manner they were presented during the collection of views and those are the corrections we are promising to make.”
Raila’s remarks came a day when MCAs were breathing fire, threatening to bring down the BBI recommendations if their input is not included in the final draft.
Under the County Assembly Forum (CAF), the MCAs are demanding an increase in ward funds and the cancellation of the degree requirement.
Speaking in Naivasha where governors were meeting to discuss the report, CAF representatives called for an increase from five to 35 percent of funds to the wards.
Under the current constitutional set up, 24 counties have to pass the referendum bill before it goes to the public.
CAF chairman Wahome Ndegwa, who is also the Nyandarua assembly speaker, called for an increase in revenue allocated to the wards from the proposed five to 30 per cent.
“Of the 35 per cent allocated to the counties, the amount allocated to the ward development fund should be increased to 35 per cent for better service delivery,” he said.
Ndegwa added that the proposal to have some Cabinet secretaries drawn from Parliament be replicated in the counties.
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“Though its not under BBI, we are opposed to the recommendations that MCA should have a requirement of a degree when vying for the seat,” he said.
CAF secretary general Kipkorir Chepkwony echoed the sentiments, citing that education directly translates into service delivery in elective political offices.
He added that despite being poorly educated, some veteran legislators had proven their capability to perform on representation and oversight as their educated colleagues take on legislative roles.
The MCAs also want county assemblies budgets to be independent from the county executive to allow them effectively perform their oversight role without a hand of the governor.
According to Chepkwony, lack of financial independence has seen some of the governors hold the county assemblies to ransom to pass their agenda, failing which they are threatened with budget cuts.
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