- Sources told the Star that the two leaders are pushing to have the Bill debated and passed within two weeks.
- The Star has also established that Nasa affiliate parties have also retreated to their controlled assemblies and MCAs to back the Bill.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga are working on a plot to woo the county assemblies to pass the Building Bridges Initiative Bill in a record time.
The two principals have kicked off simultaneous consolidation drives of assemblies in their strongholds to have MCAs approve the Bill in the shortest time to realise a June referendum.
Already, the two leaders are sure of bagging at least 28 out of the 47 assemblies, four more than the constitutional requirement.
These are assemblies that pro the two handshake partners and Nasa affiliates – Wiper, ANC and Ford Kenya.
Raila will on Tuesday meet MCAs from 14 pro-ODM county assemblies at Cooperative College, Karen, in Nairobi
ODM is firmly in control of at least 14 assemblies and will be leveraging on the goodwill from counties under the grip of coalition partners which raises the number of those under NASA to 18.
The ODM-controlled counties are Mombasa, Kilifi, Tana River, Turkana, Kakamega, Vihiga, Busia, Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Taita Taveta, Kisii and Nyamira.
President Kenyatta secured the support of 10 Mt Kenya counties at the weekend when he met 550 MCAs from Central Kenya at the Sigana State Lodge. These are Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Murang'a, Nyandarua, Kiambu, Laikipia and Nakuru, which is a member of Central Kenya Economic Bloc, despite being in the Rift Valley.
Sources told the Star that Raila and Uhuru are pushing to have the Bill debated and passed within two weeks at the friendly assemblies.
However, ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna said they will leave it to the assemblies to be guided by their respective Standing Orders and constitutional provisions.
“Those timelines are constitutional and subject to individual Standing Orders of each sssembly, so we leave it to the assemblies to determine when they want to pass it. I is within their purview,” Sifuna said.
According to the BBI Secretariat schedule, Kenyans should go to a referendum in June.
Racing against time, President Kenyatta and the ODM chief are now directly whipping their counties to pass the document soonest.
The plan, which is woven around an express directive to the MCAs to prioritise the Bill, will also involve courting like-minded parties to lobby for approval.
The Star has also established that Nasa affiliate parties have also retreated back to their controlled assemblies and MCAs to back the Bill once it comes up for debate tentatively next week.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka was also scheduled to meet hisMCAs today but the meeting was pushed to a later date.
Wiper party controls Makueni, Kitui and Machakos counties, while Ford Kenya has Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties.
Wiper executive director Jared Siso on Monday confirmed that the party will meet all its MCAs to put a case for the proposed law change.
“It was actually expected to be on Tuesday but for some reason, it has been pushed to a day this week. Not only where we have the majority but all counties where we have members,” Siso told Star on the phone.
He added: “In places where we are the minority, they will be summoned to vote ‘Yes’. We have pronounced ourselves on the BBI and we are doing everything possible to ensure that at the end of the day, all goes well.”
“What I know is that there is a sense of urgency in that process,” he said.