Deputy President William Ruto has laid several conditions to be met before backing the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.
Various interviews with his strategists and political allies have revealed that DP Ruto has no issue with supporting the BBI reports. But he wants guarantees that his views on various issues are catered for in the document.
Coming from how he has been treated by President Uhuru in his second term the DP and his allies believe that some of the functions of the Deputy President must be anchored in the constitution to preserve the dignity of the office.
Soy MP Caleb Kositany, a close ally to the Ruto says the BBI was ideally meant to reintroduce more political posts including, the prime minister and two deputies, and doesn’t include Kenyan’s interests.
The Soy MP believes that the proposal does not reflect the reality of the day.
“The document is silent on the functions of the deputy president. Currently, he has been sidelined and, even in Cabinet, he is a bystander. It shows they did not look at the constitution holistically but only created seats for themselves,” he told the Sunday Nation.
Ruto’s camp wants their views captured in the Referendum Bill before it is tabled in Parliament. Ruto’s head of strategy, Dr. Korir Sing’oei, says the law should be put in a manner that allows everybody votes on specific issues and should not be reduced to a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ vote on a cluster of issues.
Dr. Korir says Kenyans must have an opportunity to vote for certain proposals they want and reject those that they don’t. Ruto’s camp is seeking a “room for cherry-picking”.
“How the referendum questions are structured will also guide his decision on it,” said Dr. Sing’oei. “The current format where all issues are lumped together doesn’t help much,” he told the publication.
Ruto’s camp also is also seeking an urgent need for dialogue before they are fully on board. They demand a place at the high table, where decision-making takes place, and not to be treated as a cheering squad.
The demand may, however, prove a hard nut to crack as the high table is already occupied by the handshake principals – President Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga. Some hardliners like Jubilee Party Vice-Chair David Murathe have no ears for the DP may make it difficult for Ruto to sit at the high table.
Another condition laid by the Tanga Tanga brigade is that President Kenyatta must first host a Jubilee Parliamentary group meeting to take a position on the report.
According to Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, the President must cast his presidential hat on tat and engage them as the party leader.
“If he can come and talk to us, without lecturing us as he has done in the previous meetings, we may listen to his BBI preaching. What we want is to build a consensus in a respectful manner. He should also give us the implementation matrix of the document,” the legislature said as reported by Sunday Nation.
MP Kositany noted that it would be sad for the country to spend over Sh11 billion for a referendum at a time when the economy is ailing.
“We have refused to appoint 41 judges, a simple task provided for in the constitution. Failure to perform this simple task has led to the suffering of Kenyans whose cases have been delayed,” he said.
On the other side, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said they want a document rich in matters of the economy and not political positions.
“The document has too many sweeteners like tax breaks for youth and such things, which are essentially there to wrap the big issue of creating positions at the top. These do not need a referendum; Treasury can announce them on Monday if the government is serious on empowering Kenyans,” he said.
Nyoro said the document aimed at bringing back “Moism”. He pointed out that a powerful President with powers to hire and fire government officials is like it was during Moi’s era is unacceptable.
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Apart from weakening institutions like the Judiciary, Ruto’s camp believes the BBI proposal creates a lot of levels of conflict and confusion.
“As the PM is to be designated with reference to the majority party in parliament, it is not farfetched that the President and the PM will be from the same party. As such, rather than mute the winner-take-all concerns, it reinforces it,” Dr. Sing’oei said as reported by Sunday Nation.
“What is certain is that the establishment of a judicial ombudsman appointed by the president to police the Judiciary and several other amendments focused on the Judicial Service Commission represent an implicit attempt to re-enact total control by the Executive over the Judiciary. It is a direct and most brazen attempt at destroying judicial independence and must not be allowed.”
