Deputy President William Ruto has vowed to ensure that proposals contained in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report are shot down if they don’t address the needs of ordinary Kenyans.
Speaking at Shianda Market in Kakamega County on Sunday after a Church Service at Our lady of Assumption Indangalasia Parish and St. Leo Catholic Church, Ruto reiterated that BBI should not be used by politicians for selfish gains.
The second in command said the conversation around constitutional reforms should be people-centred and inclusive.
He noted that the discussion must be heavy on ordinary Kenyans’ issues such as jobs generation and poverty eradication rather than leaders and positions.
“Wawache kiburi bwana.Msituambie ni lazima. Msituambie nobody can stop reggae. Kama mambo ya wanainchi haiko kwa BBI hiyo reggae itasimama. Hawa watu watajua hawajui, ” said Ruto.
The final BBI report was presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner Raila Odinga at Kisii State Lodge on Wednesday. The leaders vowed to ensure the recommendations contained in the report are passed into law.
The DP’s remarks come hours before the official launch of the BBI report at Bomas in Nairobi on Monday.
Read: The Roles Of Prime Minister As Proposed In BBI Report
Already some of his allies have vowed to oppose the proposed constitutional reforms.
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.
The report also proposes an expanded legislature and abolishing of nominated seats.
In the National Assembly, the BBI proposes 360 parliamentarians elected from the 290 constituencies in a single and multiple-member constituencies.
Read Also: Uncertainty In North Eastern BBI Rally As Regional Leaders Differ
Also, If the proposals are passed, counties will be compelled to elect both a female and male senator so that there are 94 senators out of the 47 counties.
Currently, there are 290 elected parliamentarians, 47 women representatives and 12 nominated MPs making a total of 349 legislators.
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