Nyamira, Kisii MPs reject BBI meeting

MPs from Nyamira and Kisii are reading a sinister motive in the  planned Building Bridges Initiative meetings.

They say the initiative has been hijacked to help resell ODM party in the region ahead of the 2022 polls.

In Kisii, already Deputy Governor Joash Maangi and a retinue of ward reps have distanced themselves from the forum which will be chaired by ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Maangi said Kenyans had already taken a collective positive on the report and there was no need to spend public funds in holding the proposed meeting in Kisii.

"If you ask me about it, your guess is clear as mine. It is all a waste of funds. People are missing priorities, " said the deputy governor who coordinates DP William Ruto's campaigns in the region.

He said all that was needed was for Kenyans to be given copies of the report to read and make an informed decision.

" We held a press conference and spoke out our mind on this. What we said is the BBI was a good report that should should be embraced by all," Maangi said.

He said while they respect Raila, his chairing of the  BBI meeting in Kisii was uncalled for and wasteful.

" There are other more pressing issues within the county than these meetings. We are losing focus if we attend," said Maangi during a press conference at his residence on Tuesday.

In Nyamira, North Mugirango MP Joash Nyamoko said he will skip the meeting. He described the BBI forum in Kisii as a thinly veiled political ploy to help  Odinga recoup fortunes  for the ODM party.

"In all the planning for this meeting ,you have not seen any Jubilee party member, not even at the press conferences. What does this tell you? This is a party affair," he told the Star by phone yesterday.

Nyamoko said the party's fortunes have plummeted drastically in the last decade and what it is holding on to was a " handful of noncommittal members."

The legislator said although there had been efforts by the planners to reach out to him, he was noncommittal if he would avail himself at the forum which will take place at Sports Club in Kisii.

" I got a call but I may have commitments that day that will not allow me to be available for the forum, " said Nyamoko.

He also said as Jubilee MPs they had received no communication from their political leaders to attend.

"There is no written communication that has come my way from the top to instruct me to attend," he said.

In Kisii, Bomachoge Chache MP Alfa Miruka also vowed to skip the function.

"I am yet to see any invite yet and thus I will not saunter into a meeting I am not welcome.  Who are these Gusii leaders attending yet here we are and  not invited?" he posed.

Miruka said mischief appeared to be dogging the whole BBI consultative forum.

Governor James Ongwae has been drumming up support for the forum.

In Nyamira, West Mugirango MP Kemosi has also dismissed the forum saying he won't attend. "I would only attend if told by my party boss," he said.

"So far there has been no similar communication done to me regarding the event," said Kemosi, a Ford Kenya MP.

In an interview with a local radio station, Kemosi said as Tangatanga supporters they had no problem with the BBI report but viewed the planned Kisii forum as an ODM party event.

South Mugirango MP Sylvanus Osoro has also dismissed the forum.

He said he was not even aware of it."We can only go to a meeting that we have been invited. I am not aware of any meeting by Raila or anyone in Kisii," he said by text.

The meeting in Kisii will attract leaders across Nyanza and Western counties.

The leaders will be discussing the Building Bridges Initiative report and adopt a joint position, according to Governor Ongwae.