• Raila said that the issues proposed in the BBI were good and would be reviewed “when the time comes.”
• In his pitch to Mt Kenya, the ODM leader said the region would lose more MPs with the expiry of the protection that was granted to the special constituencies.
ODM leader Raila Odinga has decried the negative consequences of the loss of the Building Bridges Initiative saying the courts should have let Kenyans decide on the first amendment to the 2010 Constitution.
The former Prime Minister says Kenyans were staring at losing constituencies that would have been protected by the BBI which he spearheaded together with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“We should have let Kenyans decide the changes. If they were bad for Kenyans they would have said no but now the courts have stopped it and we feel it is not right,” Raila said on Friday.
He added that the issues proposed in the BBI were good and would be reviewed “when the time comes.”
“We will give Kenyans another chance but that would come later. There would be regrets. Consequences would follow,” he said.
In his pitch to Mt Kenya, the ODM leader said the region would lose more MPs with the expiry of the protection that was granted to the special constituencies.
He cited the case of Nyeri which stands to lose Othaya, Mukurweini, Tetu as well as Murang’a county which is set to lose Mathoiya and Kangema.
Other constituencies which may collapse are Kirinyaga Central and Ndaragwa in Nyandarua county.
In an interview with Gukena FM and other Kikuyu FM stations, the ODM leader said “much as we have not agreed with the ruling, we respect it…like we said in 2013.”
On the bid to appeal the ruling, the ODM leader said any party was free to proceed to challenge the ruling at the apex court.
“We said we’ll not appeal the BBI case at the Supreme Court but anyone has the right to proceed with the appeal,” he said.
Raila added that the BBI secretariat was supporting the appeal by the Attorney General to reverse “areas where the ruling violated the Constitution making it hard to amend it.”
“As it stands now, it would be hard and nearly impossible for Kenyans to amend the Constitution even when it is necessary,” the former premier cautioned.
Edited by D Tarus