It is now official: the BBI signature collection exercise will officially be launched on Thursday by President Uhuru Kenyatta and and his Handshake partner Raila Odinga.
Raila, the ODM boss, on Tuesday announced the signature collection drive is expected to be finalised latest next week.
"On Thursday, President Uhuru Kenyatta and myself will lead the country into launching the signature collection," Raila said.
"We want the signature collection done very quickly and by end of next week we are done with the collection."
The ODM leader was speaking on Tuesday after meeting minority and majority leaders drawn from the 47 counties.
The BBI team is expected to collect one million signatures from Kenyans, in preparation for a referendum.
The supporting signatures are then taken to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which shall verify that the initiative is supported by at least one million registered voters.
If the IEBC is satisfied that the initiative meets the requirements, the Commission shall submit the draft Bill to each county assembly for consideration within three months after the date it was submitted by the Commission.
If a county assembly approves the draft Bill within three months after the date it was submitted by the Commission, the speaker of the county assembly shall deliver a copy of the draft Bill jointly to the Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament, with a certificate that the county assembly has approved it.
If it is approved by a majority (24) of the county assemblies, it shall then be introduced in Parliament.
On Monday, Deputy President William Ruto urged county assemblies to shun a forced 'Yes-no' campaign around BBI that he said threatens to be retrogressive for the country.
Speaking when he met Wajir MCAs, Ruto said the county assemblies must work together and push for progressive engagements around the Building Bridges Initiative.
"...so that we can build a consensus on the report. A divisive referendum process cannot be used to achieve a united country," he said.
He added: "We must at the moment prioritise the health of our people and focus on countering the effects of Covid-19."
