• Mudavadi said the current move for the BBI referendum to pass to the next level after a node by county governments does not mean Kenyans did not have a say.
• So far 38 county assemblies have approved the referendum bill with only one rejecting it.
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has refuted claims that Kenyans' rights have been trampled on.
Mudavadi said the current move for the BBI referendum to pass to the next level after a nod by county governments does not mean Kenyans did not have a say.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Tuesday night, Mudavadi said Kenyans will have the final say on the matter.
“I think Kenyans will have their final say at the referendum. This is a democratic and political process and the final stage is when that individual Kenyan will vote either yes or no. So their rights have not been trampled on,” he said.
So far, 38 county assemblies have approved the referendum bill with only one rejecting it.
“This is a very positive development because we need to move forward as a country and I think by these counties coming forward and making their decision enables this process to move to the next level,” Mudavadi said.
He said for a referendum process that was initiated, it becomes a step in the right direction.
“The challenge will be the referendum itself. What is important as we get to the referendum stage for me is to just to appeal to the Kenyans that let that process not be acrimonious, let it be a process where the truth is told, where people through civic education get to understand what the facts really are so that we can then have a decision that is based on facts,” he said.
He added, “Now we still are heading to Parliament and then from Parliament, the referendum process will come into play”.
Mudavadi said he supports the document because quite a number of issues that had been raised had been harmonized.
“It reached a position and we said that you can never get 100 per cent perfection in a document. But the changes and the corrections that have been put in this particular document can now want us to move to the next level,” he said.
He said he believes even as the bill moves to the National Assembly, there is still a lot of room for Kenyans to continue building consensus for a smooth and possible referendum.
“What has happened is that those people who wanted to over politicise this process I think it should now dawn on them that the game is over. It is now time to move forward. And to move forward means let it go to Parliament, and then let the people have the final say. It will either be a vote of yes or no,” he said.