Curtain falls on BBI public participation

At exactly 12pm on March 31, the BBI team will stop receiving views from Kenyans.

The Building Bridges Initiative task force concluded receiving physical submissions three weeks ago and Tuesday midnight marks the end of submissions through online platforms.

This means individuals and groups that did not appear before the Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji-led panel have about 24 hours to send their proposals.

The BBI team has until the end of June to submit a report to President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga. 

The report incorporates proposals on solutions to the myriad challenges facing Kenya. It was unveiled last November by the President at Bomas of Kenya.

MPs from Rift Valley have, however, called for an extension of the deadline.

The MPs have disputed the proposals presented by the region’s governors two weeks ago.

Eleven governors presented their harmonised proposals to the task force, saying the views were collected during public participation conducted in their respective counties.

However, it is understood that MPs and MCAs did not participate in the public meetings that were poorly attended.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said the public participation meetings they had agreed on were disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.

He said there wasn't enough time for the people to present their views and the governors forwarded their own personal views.

“I saw only a section of governors purporting to present views on behalf of the people of the larger Rift Valley. Public meetings were stopped by the government as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19. So for them to say they presented our views is not true,” Cherargei told the Star on the phone on Monday.

“Not all our views were captured and the task force should know that any proposal said to be the views of Rift Valley are illegal, unconstitutional and immoral. We did not know that some people would take advantage and sneak in their own views for selfish political interests.”

Marakwet East MP Bowen Kangogo also said the activities of the BBI task force should be suspended and part of the Sh10 billion allocated to it reallocated to the Ministry of Health to fight the coronavirus.

“The priority now is Covid-19. BBI should be abandoned and the report that was unveiled last year committed to Parliament to come up with ways on how it should be implemented. Those that require administrative actions, the Office of the President should direct on how to implement,” he said.

Soy MP Caleb Kositany said the governors' views did not incorporate the views of residents. He said the activities of the BBI task force were now no longer tenable and should be suspended until after the 2022 election.

Kositany said if it's a matter of life and death for the team to proceed with writing the final report, then the time for submitting views should be extended.

He said Rift Valley MPs were to present the views they came up with during their retreat in Naivasha in January.

“Remember we were gearing up for the rally in Nakuru where we were to present our views but unfortunately it was called off after the outbreak of Covid-19 was announced in Kenya. Therefore we could not meet to fine-tune our document that is why the deadline should be extended,” Kositany said.

His position was supported by Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny. “If it is not extended it will disadvantage many people who did not get an opportunity to present their views due to the coronavirus, which threw the country into a state of confusion,” he said.

“We still have two rallies pending—Nakuru and Nairobi.” 

Nakuru Woman Representative Liza Chelule described the ongoing compilation of the report as “immoral and insensitive to what the country is going through”.

She noted that BBI has “now been overtaken by events” and should be shelved.

“What Kenyans want to hear now is how our government is pulling resources to deal with the coronavirus not how to finance BBI. All other activities of government have stopped and BBI should equally stop unless they have other mischievous outcomes,” she said.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya