NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 26 – Deputy President William Ruto is still optimistic that the country can still have an uncontested constitutional review process despite the launch of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) signatures collection exercise which signaled a clear way for a national referendum next year.
DP Ruto, who spoke on Wednesday after President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner Raila Odinga launched the exercise, says such a consensus will provide an opportunity to accommodate views from all Kenyans.
The DP insists that avoiding a referendum will also allow the country to focus on the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact on the country.
“Even with the SIGNATURE launch there is still a real chance at consensus for a non-divisive referendum that will give kenyans the opportunity to express themselves without an us vs them,win vs lose contest. Unity is the strengtg needed to fight COVID-19 and organise the economy,” Ruto tweeted.
The BBI secretariat is seeking to collect at least 1 million signatures from Kenyans to endorse the Constitutional Amendment Bill within a week which will enable the electoral commission to prepare a national referendum.
Most of the amendments Ruto wanted done on the BBI were effected, including removing the proposal to have political parties participate in the recruitment of electoral commissioners.
BBI Secretariat’s Joint Secretaries Dennis Waweru and Junet Mohammed unveiled www.bbisignatures.org for Kenyans to sign for the next one week from Wednesday.
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