Parents of the late baby Samantha Pendo, who was killed in Kisumu, after the disputed 2017 Presidential Election, are among delegates attending the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report launch at Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi.
The two, Lensa Achieng’ and Joseph Abanja, were given an opportunity to talk and narrated three years of pain following the loss of their six-month-old baby girl.
Pendo was clobbered after clashes between police and demonstrators in Kisumu’s Nyalenda Slums after Uhuru Kenyatta was announced as the winner of the presidential election in 2017. She died in hospital three days later.
An inquest into the death of Baby Pendo indicted five police commanders for overseeing brutality and, specifically, for the bludgeoning to death of the infant.
Lauding President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s political truce “handshake” that gave birth to BBI, the parents called on the political class to end the violence that erupts after every General Election in the country.
“A flower was uprooted from my garden and it cannot be replaced. Naomba wanasiasa ikue mwisho kile kilitendeka 2017, ” said Pendo’s mother.
Lensa Achieng – Mother to Baby Pendo; six-month-old girl killed by police in the August 2017 elections, speaks at the BBI report launch:
A flower was uprooted from my garden and it cannot be replaced. Naomba wanasiasa ikue mwisho kile kilitendeka 2017. #BBILaunch pic.twitter.com/74WEgkw5af
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) October 26, 2020
On his part, Pendo’s father alluded that the government has neglected the family and called on the two leaders to come to their aid.
Read: “Watajua Hawajui”: Ruto On Stopping BBI Reggae [Video]
“Naomba Rais Uhuru vile mumeshikana na Raila Odinga msiachane mkono. Naona BBI italeta mabadiliko kwa maisha yetu. Wacha damu ya mwanangu iwe ya mwisho kumwagika. Rais kumbuka familia ya Baby Pendo msituache hivo. Mumetuacha tunateseka, ” said Pendo’s father.
Joseph Abata, Baby Pendo's father: Naomba Rais Uhuru vile mumeshikana na Raila Odinga msiachane mkono. Naona BBI italeta mabadiliko kwa maisha yetu. Wacha damu ya mwanangu iwe ya mwisho kumwagika. Rais kumbuka familia ya Baby Pendo msituache hivo. Mumetuacha tunateseka#BBILaunch pic.twitter.com/8uZSZNYEkb
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) October 26, 2020
Kenyans on social media are now calling on the government to compensate Pendo’s family and victims of the 2017 disputed poll.
The final BBI report was presented to President Kenyatta and Odinga at Kisii State Lodge last Wednesday. The leaders vowed to ensure the recommendations contained in the report are passed into law.
Read Also: The Roles Of Prime Minister As Proposed In BBI Report
The report contains among others recommendations to expand the Executive “in order to promote greater inclusivity and mitigate the drawbacks of the winner-take-all electoral formula”.
The 11-member Building Bridges Initiative Steering Committee led by Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji proposes the introduction of the office of the Prime Minister and two Deputy Prime Ministers.
The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President within seven days of being sworn into office after a General Election.
Also proposed in the report is the reintroduction of the position of Leader of Opposition in Parliament.
According to the proposed law, the Leader of Official Opposition shall be the person who received the second greatest number of votes in a presidential election; and whose political party or coalition of parties has at least twenty-five per cent of all the members of the National Assembly.
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