Deputy President William Ruto has been dragged in the latest BBI Fallout with allies of both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga accusing him of being behind Major (Rtd) John Seii rebellion.
This even as it emerged that Seii had highly praised the Building Bridges Initiative report at a dinner event held at Safari Park Hotel on October 26 after Bomas launch event.
The pro-BBI politicians claimed that Seii, a member of the Building Bridges Initiative taskforce, was angry because his “assignment” to deliver for his “master’ were frustrated.
Seii had on Thursday alleged that the final BBI report was altered without the knowledge of the members of the taskforce, a claim other members have discounted.
Seii had said the task force members were pressured to append their signatures to the report whose contents they had not read.
However, on Friday, Seii appeared to backtrack on his statement, saying he fully supported the document.
During a National Council of Elders meeting, he said, “The BBI document is good and we fully support it; the only problem is that we were not given a chance to read the final document.”
Politicians backing the BBI process have accused Seei of resorting to blackmail after failing to successfully push for the DP’s agenda.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu linked Seii’s claims to Ruto.
“The allegations are very unfortunate and suspicious and can only be linked to his affiliation with William Ruto, who has also voiced his concerns about the same,” he said.
The MP wondered why Seii could not resign before the report was released if he was actually honest and speaking the truth.
“Otherwise he could have refused to sign,” he said.
National Assembly deputy Majority Whip Maoka Maore said Seii’s utterances did not come as a surprise.
“Seii’s remarks do not come to us as a surprise, in any case we know who his master is. He (Seii) is definitely not speaking on his own,” said
Maore, a key proponent of the handshake told the Star that Seii was being dishonest and cheap, in a weighty matter that requires a lot of seriousness as constitutional review.
“The man should even be challenged to refund the public what he has earned during the last two years if he doesn’t believe in the report and if he wants Kenyans to at least trust him,” he said.
Majority Whip Emmanuel Wangwe said Seii had betrayed public trust that was bestowed upon him when he was handed the task of midwifing the BBI process.
“It is a shame that a leader who has served this country as a major can make outrageous claims about a process that he has participated in without expressing any initial reservations,” said the Navakholo MP.
The politician suggested that Seii’s conduct should be probed by security agencies to unearth his real agenda throughout the BBI process.
“We know he is crying foul after failing to deliver on his assignment which we now conclude was to kill the BBI report. Seii’s assignment borders around sabotaging the whole process,” the MP said.
A member of the BBI, formally known as the Steering Committee on the Implementation of the Building Bridges to a United Kenya Task force, told the Star in confidence that Seii was alone ranger in the panel.
“He always wanted things done a certain way but members always persuaded him to adopt a teamwork spirit, he however, never showed any signs of extreme disagreements,” said the member.
Siaya Woman representative Christine Ombaka regretted that a leader with national duties had resorted into a heckler of a process he was party to.
“It is sad, unfortunate and irresponsible,” Ombaka said insisting that Seii’s mission at the BBI table could have been t scuttle the process.
“He has smoked himself out,” she added.
According to him, Seii highly praised the report during a BBI taskforce dinner hosted in their honour at Safari Park after President Uhuru and Raila unveiled the report.
“He was given an opportunity to speak and did not raise any reservations. In fact, he(Seii) expressed a lot of confidence in the report. Does it mean that he had not read it after it was unveiled in Kisii on October 21?” poses the BBI member.
But Soy MP Caleb Kositany, a key member of the anti-BBI Tangatanga team, said the BBI report could have been cooked somewhere.
“During the hearings across the country, there were no proposals to expand the executive and have additional parliamentary seats. BBI process was about position. Period,” Kositany said.
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On her part, former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission commissioner Roselyn Akombe thanked Seii, for what she said was ‘setting the record straight’.
Akombe , who fled to the USA in 2017 after resigning from her post, declared Seii brave and courageous in speaking out about the alleged doctoring of the BBI report.
“Never too late to do the right thing. Thank you Major Seii for the courage to speak up against the flawed process that led to the BBI report. I know that this was a tough one for you and I hope it encourages other members to speak up and save the country from autocracy and waste,” she said.
In what appeared to be lifting the lid on the intrigues that marred the BBI process, Seii on Thursday said that some of the sweeping proposals were totally alien because they never featured in their initial deliberations.
Seii said the addition of 70 more constituencies was inserted without their knowledge, in addition to other major changes – hardly ‘tweaks’.
“In our minds, we had heard the call from Kenyans to Punguza Mzigo. The donkey is tired and should be relived and if not so, then do not add more burden.
“Then we saw the introduction of 70 MPs. Then we asked, where did the 70 come from? Who said this county should get them and the others will not get them,” he asked.
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