•Uhuru said despite the legal obstacles the BBI faced, the dream will be achieved in the end.
•Deputy President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga are on the opposing sides as far as BBI is concern.
Image: DPPS:
President Uhuru Kenyatta is hoping his handshake partner Raila Odinga will win next year's presidential election to revive the BBI quest to change the Constitution.
Uhuru remains passionate about the Building Bridges Initiative and often talks about its dream to unite the country whenever an opportunity arises.
The High Court in May declared the quest to change the Supreme law null and void, a decision that was later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Proponents have since moved to the Supreme Court seeking interpretations that could potentially revive BBI.
On Sunday, during Jamuhuri Day celebrations, President Kenyatta said despite the legal obstacles the BBI faced, the dream will be achieved someday.
“And although it encountered some legal obstacles, I can only say that BBI is just a dream deferred,” the President said.
“One day, someday, it will happen, because the country cannot survive ethnic majoritarianism and exclusion just as it cannot survive unfair and skewed representation. This is a design defect that we must fix.”
The BBI was proposing the expansion of the Executive to introduce the position of the Prime Minister and two deputies and also create 70 new constituencies, the Judiciary ombudsman among others.
The President is banking his hopes on Raila who is he is supporting to succeed him in next year’s presidential race to revive the push to amend the Constitution.
However, Deputy President William Ruto has sustained his anti-BBI campaigns terming the process a fraud.
In his ongoing countrywide campaign rallies, the DP who has fallen out with his boss holds the view that the issues contained in the BBI do not need the 2010 Constitution to be amended.
Critics of the Uhuru and Raila -led process say it is a scheme with personal interests.
On Monday Murang'a Woman Representative Sabina Chege said if Raila will not win in the next election, then the BBI dream will end.
In an interview with the Star, Chege said there is a need to address the issues that were raised by the courts.
“In the event, Kenyans will elect a president who is not for the BBI idea, we will have no choice but to rest our case,” Chege said.
“BBI had the goodwill of the President and the former Prime Minister and was to cure certain inadequacies in the Constitution which have become a hindrance to service delivery and equitable distribution of resources.”
She said some proposals that do not require a referendum could be passed in Parliament.
“As for now, BBI cannot be revived. Time is not on our side and the best is maybe to have some of the proposals that do not require referendum passed in Parliament. Both the President and the former PM have numbers in Senate and National Assembly,” she said.
Soy MP Caleb Kositany criticised the President saying BBI is not the only route to increase resources to the counties.
Kositany who is an ally of Ruto said Constitution has not barred Treasury from allocating more resources to the devolved units.
“Counties can still be given more funds through Parliament without the conmanship that was in the BBI. What we know is that BBI was to create Parliamentary seats for some individuals who wanted an easy sailing into power without campaigning,” he said.
Kositany who spoke to the Star on phone said even the creation of additional constituencies was feasible without taking the country through the costly route of amending the Constitution.
“If Kenyans needed more constituencies, then the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission would have been engaged,” he said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris