Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition chief Raila Odinga have appealed to Members of Parliament to pass the Building Bridges Initiative bill ahead of crucial voting exercise in Parliament.
Their call comes at a time when members of parliament are still divided on whether or not to amend contentious clauses in the Bill.
The Bill that seeks to amend the Constitution of Kenya 2010 has gone through the motions as provided for in the Constitution and now sits at the door of Parliament awaiting voting by legislators.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, May 5, the leaders urged the legislators to join the over 3 million Kenyans who participated in giving their views and County Assemblies which passed the same.
“We are making a joint appeal to members of the National Assembly and the senate to join the 3, 188,001 Kenyans who supported the Bill, and the 44 County Assemblies who approved it,” the two leaders said in a joint statement.
They said that it’s through the BBI that the country will achieve long-term solutions to the problems the state has experiencing over the past decades.
The National Assembly and Senate are on Thursday, May 6, expected to vote on the BBI bill which divided MPs during heated debates in both houses with some demanding erroneous closes be amended.
The other faction comprising close allies of the two formidable leaders have rejected the push.
Kivumbi.co.ke recently reported that National Assembly speaker Justine Muturi overruled amendments to the BBI Bill unless the amendments are grammatical.
The division on whether or not to amend closes in the bill divided ODM party leading to the removal of Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo from Justice and Legal Committee of parliament.
The leaders urged legislators to set aside their political affiliation saying that this is not the time for political adversity nor for personal aggrandizement.
“We are asking them to stand up with their countrymen in charting a non-partisan selfish way forward for all of us,” they said.
