NAIROBI,
Kenya
President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta and Chief
opposition leader, Raila Odinga have shaken Deputy President William Ruto's
perceived grip on the grassroots in a sweet victory for the Building Bridges
Initiative team clearing the way for constitutional
change.
In what
pro-Uhuru and Raila teams described as a yellow card to Ruto ahead of the 2022
presidential contest, 23 county assemblies unanimously approved the BBI Blll on
Tuesday. Thirty-five counties have approved it so far.
Ruto
and his allies have opposed the constitutional change, terming it
retrogressive, unnecessary and expensive in an economy battered by Covid-19.
Seven
counties in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Mt Kenya backyard voted almost to a man
to endorse the constitutional change on a day Raila had branded “Super
Tuesday”.
But
even more surprising was the endorsement of the Constitution of Kenya
(Amendment) Bill, 2020 in Bomet, Ruto’s political bedrock.
“I said
it before, I’ll say it again, you can rent a Kikuyu, but you cannot buy a
Kikuyu,” Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru said after her county approved the
Bill, sentiments shared by political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi.
He
claimed out of 550 Gema MCAs, only four voted against the BBI Bill.
“He
[Ruto] needs to re-load,” he said.
In a
statement to newsrooms, the former Prime Minister thanked MCAs and the
governors who he said refused to give in to “mistrust, cynicism, brinkmanship
and fearmongering.
“County
assemblies have been able to push back on a year-long campaign of lies,
misinformation and undue influence on a document whose centrepiece is ensuring
prosperity and equitable sharing of the same,” Raila said in an apparent attack
on the DP.
Raila
said he has worked with Kenyans on reforms for a long time and is aware Kenyans
are not slow learners when it comes to recognising and seizing moments of
change.
“That
faith stands reaffirmed and renewed,” he stated. “With the dramatic and strong
conclusion of the exercise today, we are extremely close to giving our people
the reforms they need to create a united, inclusive, stable and prosperous
nation that also deals decisively with the crime of corruption.”
An
additional 23 county assemblies flashed the 'Yes' card, pushing to 35 the total
number of counties that have endorsed the Bill — and surpassing the magic 24
assemblies needed to for a referendum.
They
are Embu, Nakuru, Narok, Nyamira, Meru, Taita Taveta, Lamu, Mombasa, Kirinyaga,
Machakos, Marsabit, Makueni, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Bungoma, Kakamega, Kitui,
Murang’a, Kiambu, Migori, Kwale, Tharaka Nithi and Bomet.
The
vote, essentially, sends the country to a referendum after 11 years since the
promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.
"The
BBI is the future of this country and unless the DP gets on board, he is going
nowhere in 2022," Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, a fierce critic of the
DP, told the Star.
He said
Ruto has been deceived by lthe arge crowds he pulls during his rallies in his
whirlwind tours.
“The DP
never had a grip on the county assemblies. During the Punguza Mizigo, he had
indicated it should be passed. It collapsed at county assembly level. Now we
have seen what has happened. He must stop thinking large crowds are a sign of
support,” he said.
However
Soy MP Caleb Kositany and his Nandi counterpart Samson Cherargei, both close
allies of the DP, said Ruto was not in competition with BBI, insisting the MCAs
were coerced and "bribed" to approve the bill.
“The
DP, at the moment, is not competing for anything. We know what happened prior
to the MCAs passing the BBI. There was intimidation, bribery and coercion,”
Cherargei said.
The
vocal legislator reiterated the Bill will meet its Waterloo at the people's
court, emphasising that the document is unpopular.
Kositany
claimed MCAs were pushed and coerced by the state to approve the Bill.
“Clearly
something is fishy in the manner in which the assemblies are passing the Bill.
The presence of governors in the assembly chambers tells you the kind of
coercion they are applying on MCAs," Kositany said.
“The
state may have had its say. Now the next stage is for Kenyans to have their way
too. If they will speak in favour of the Bill, all of us, the supporters of the
Deputy President, will abide by the position,” he added.
Mathira
MP Rigathi Gachagua accused the Jubilee administration of resorting to bribery
and intimidation to push through the Bill.
“What
has happened is shameful to our democracy. What we saw is a vote procured by
bribery and intimidation. I don't know how they will bribe Kenyans,” he told
the Star on the phone.
Ruto
has poked holes in the BBI, questioning reality of the some of the premises in
the Bill. He termed it a plot to create jos for a few elite [dynasties] at the
expense of poor Kenyans [hustlers].
At the
very minimum, the DP has demanded a multiple choice referendum or a plebiscite
conducted along with the general elections next year, ostensibly to save on the
taxpayers’ money.
“Given
the foregoing, it is legitimate to question the wisdom of expending Sh14
billion a year before an election that will cost another Sh42 billion when the
referendum could be conducted as a seventh ballot in the general election,”
Ruto said after closed-door meeting with more than 100 MPs at his Karen
residence on February 2.
On
Tuesday, Uhuru turned tables on his deputy in Mt.Kenya where the DP was
perceived to have made substantial inroads and held in a irm grip.
All the
assemblies from the region gave thumbs up to the Bill, exposing Ruto’s
loss of influence and firming up the President's hold on his vote-rich
backyard.
In
Nakuru, the county termed Jubilee’s birthplace, MCAs voted almost to a man
-womanfor the proposed constitutional changes. Only 11 out of the 73 wards
voted against the Bill.
Governor
Lee Kinyanjui, BBI coordinator in the county, commended the MCAs saying they
exercised maturity during the debate and vote.
The
situation was the same in Murang’a, Nyeri, Kiambu, Meru and Nyandarua where the
DP suffered a staggering blow in his bid to block the referendum.
Murang’a
Governor Mwangi Wa Iria keenly followed the mid-morning proceedings as the all
53 MCAs voted in support of the Bill.
“It is
insincere for any leader from this region to oppose the Bill but we appeal to
those who have not been supporting it to join us now,” he said, adding that it
is a new economic beginning for the region.
Muranga
and the Central Kenya region at large have been the centre of focus after the
DP appeared to have marshalled a strong fan base to oppose the Bill.
In late
December last year, Muranga Senator Irungu Kangata, in a highly publicised
letter, said the BBI was unpopular in the county and region.
He
cited opposition to the expanded Executive, the involvement of provincial
administration and campaigns by former MPs as some of the issues working
against the initiative.
The
senator said the role of chiefs and county administrators — and other forms of
hard tactics in BBI mobilisation — is a challenge in the region.
“Let us
emphasise the soft power and art of persuasion. In my humble view, the
provincial administration in the BBI process should be invisible,” he told the
President in the letter.
Kangata
has since joined DP’s Tangatanga camp after he was unceremoniously kicked out
of the Senate majority chief whip position on suspicion he was a spy for Ruto.
On
January 28, a day before the President met Mt Kenya leaders at Sagana State
Lodge to rally them to back the bill, 41 MPs allied to Ruto from the
region wrote a stern letter to the President.
In the
letter, the MPs decried the state of the economy, alleged betrayal of the DP,
political "persecution"and Uhuru’s handshake with Odinga.
They said
BBI was not a priority for the residents and asked him to focus on turning
around the economy instead.
