Kilifi North MP Owen Baya has urged residents of the Coast region to support the Building Bridges Initiative report.
Baya, however, warned that the region should not support the BBI blindly.
Speaking in Kilifi on Monday, Baya said the report failed to capture most of what the region had presented to the team but urged for support, saying issues left out will be included.
“Out of the three demands we made as a region, the BBI report only captured one. Our demand included regional governments, addressing of historical injustices and a review of the allocation of the national resources to counties. They only increased the amount of allocation to counties from 15 per cent to 45 per cent,” Baya said.
During Jamuhuri Day celebrations, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi said the region will convene a major conference to discuss the report.
Kingi said the conference will include both politicians and non-politicians.
“We will bring on board experts who will break the report into simpler terms that anyone can understand. We need to support the report with a purpose,” Kingi said.
Baya said the report should make sure the land issue is captured in the Constitution in a more elaborate way.
“As Coast people, we have lost it big time on matters land. The National Land Commission had the powers to review land grants but the time is now over. We want NLC to be given the powers to continue reviewing the grants,” Baya said.
He urged leaders to support the report with an agenda. “Gone are the days when Coast leaders will push for something that will not benefit the region. Let’s support BBI because I know it can offer a solution to the many challenges we face as a region. We should push to make sure our issues are included in the final document,” he said.
edited by p. obuya
