• Owuor said the organisation will give a comprehensive statement once the BBI report is handed over
Transform Empowerment for Action Initiative (TEAM) has distanced itself from the statement made by civil societies against the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) on Thursday in Nairobi.
Team Executive Director George Owuor said it was too early to comment on the BBI because the report is yet to be released.
“We distanced ourself from the statement. We cannot at the moment comment on the report which we have not seen and read,” he said on the phone on Friday.
Owuor said the organisation will give a comprehensive statement once the BBI report is handed over to President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga by the task force.
The 14-member team constituted after March 9, 2018, by Uhuru and Raila went across the country to collect views from Kenyans and have now retreated to write its report.
A group of activists on Thursday dismissed the BBI as a plot to control state power.
Uwazi consortium warned that the much-anticipated BBI report may, after all, not inspire confidence in Kenyans.
International Policy Group, African Electoral Observation Group, Centre for Minority Rights Development, Hema La Katiba are some of the lobbies in the association.
The group in its survey alleged the BBI team's operations are shrouded in mystery. The group also says the BBI seeks to institutionalise two people's personal objectives using state resources.
In its report, the consortium tore into the whole process of the establishment of the BBI task force.
“Many think that BBI is a conspiracy between President Uhuru and Raila to control state power beyond the 2022 political transition,” the consortium said.
“Others believe that the two leaders are hell-bent on ensuring that state power is captured by people of their choice.”
The BBI is, therefore, a mockery, a waste of time, a waste of resources and a rubber-stamping exercise, concluded the report. The group said the public hearings organised by the BBI task force were not transparent but indicative of a predetermined outcome. It said most of the hearings were poorly attended by people selected by county commissioners.
“The meetings are carefully, secretly organised and are therefore dress rehearsals supposed to deceive the people of Kenya. The study did not find anything that inspires confidence in the BBI,” Uwazi said.