•One week ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta met Rift Valley governors and told them to support the BBI process.
•The counties now have a 10-day window of opportunity to send their proposals directly to the team.
Eleven governors from Rift Valley on Friday presented their joint report to the Building Bridges Initiative task force.
The county chiefs presented the harmonised report containing the proposals from the vast region to the task force chairman Yusuf Haji in Nairobi.
Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony, who was among those present in the low-key event, said they expect the task force to capture their submissions in the final report.
"Today I joined fellow governors and other leaders from the Rift Valley in presenting memoranda bearing submissions from the people of the region to the BBI task force chaired by Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji," Chepkwony said in a statement.
He added: "This follows a series of BBI Consultative Forums held in the various counties over the past month."
Were it not for the coronavirus outbreak, leaders and residents from all the 11 counties were to converge at Nakuru's Afraha Stadium this Saturday to present their report to the Building Bridges Initiative team.
One week ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta met Rift Valley governors and told them to support the BBI process.
The governors who attended the State House meeting included Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru), Paul Chepkwony (Kericho), Hillary Barchok (Bomet), Josphat Nanok (Turkana), John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot), Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu), Alex Tolgos (Elgeyo Marakwet), Ndiritu Muriithi (Laikipia) and Stanley Kiptis (Baringo).
After their meeting with Uhuru , the governors, who were reluctant to support BBI, have all conducted meetings in their respective counties to collect views from which will be incorporated in the final report.
The BBI team concluded receiving submissions from the members of the public on Wednesday last week but will continue to receive written submissions until the end of March .
This means the counties now have a window of opportunity to send their proposals directly to the team.
As part of an elaborate measure the government has put in place to contain the spread of the virus that seven people already contracted , Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe suspended all public gatherings, and events that have large gatherings until further notice.
Kinyanjui had told the Star that a team bringing together representatives from the 11 counties would meet to collate all the proposals from each county into one report.
“The members of the region will have opportunity to look at the final report. We want to make single proposal to the task force that will capture the aspirations and needs of the people of the larger Rift Valley,” he said.
Kinyanjui also acknowledged that the outbreak of the virus will brake the activities of BBI team saying the task force members are now not likely to hold meetings.
“It will definitely impact on the BBI calendar in a big way. There is the aspect of time to conclude the report which will now have to be looked at. It is also important to note that there will no Constitutional changes two years to a general election,” he said.
Brian Weke the executive director of Institute for Education in Democracy (IED), observed that the BBI team “has no option but opt for wait and see mode”.
“What we are witnessing is an act of god . We have no control over the situation . Clearly it has affected many things not just the BBI. If not contained within a month or two, it will affect the calendar of BBI activities,” Weke told the Star by phone.
Belgut MP Nelson Koech said if the virus will escalate beyond June this year, more resources will have to be channeled towards mitigating the disease hence BBI will have to be sidestepped.
“It will be very immoral for Treasury or even any other sane person to come to Parliament to ask for moneies to finance BBI or referendum. We will not accept that. Remember in the long run, the Coronavirus will impact on the economy with several companies being affected,” he noted.
“What we want to hear going forward is how Parliament will allocate resources to a stimulus programme to help the economy pick after the effects of the virus as other countries such as US has done,” he added.
Prof. Edward Kisiang’ani said the attention of the government and the politicians should now shift to how to deal with the virus.
“BBI factions should learn from the worldwide catastrophe of the Corona virus. Countries are now talking to one another, helping one another and sharing information to deal with this crisis,” he said.
The political analyst added: “It is no longer you against us After the Corona epidemic, different factions of the BBI should sit together on the table friendship to discuss an acceptable way forward for our great Republic. The current political intolerance should die with the Corona tragedy.”