Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to channel money that had been set aside for Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) to COVID-19 mass vaccination.
He said this barely two days after the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court ruling that declared the Constitutional Amendment Bill (2020) unconstitutional.
Speaking at St Luke’s Wang’uru Anglican Church in Kirinyaga County on Sunday, August 22, the second in command said the KSh10 billion set aside for constitutional amendment through the BBI should be channeled towards vaccination of all Kenyans.
“Vaccination of Kenyans should take priority over anything else, we want our people given jabs to be safe,” the DP said.
The DP stressed that BBI which sought to review Kenya’s Constitution 2010 was no more and the government should now focus on health matters.
While calling on the National Assembly to support the amendment of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to ensure universal healthcare for all Kenyans, Ruto observed that the country cannot move forward when Kenyans are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
“As Kenyans, we should be united in fighting COVID-19 which has badly affected our economy,” he said.
The former Agriculture Minister urged ODM leader Raila Odinga and other promoters of the BBI bill to stop bothering the President to let him work for millions of Kenyans.
“Now that the BBI has been declared illegal by the Court of Appeal, those who were supporting it should stop bothering the President. The proponents of BBI should let the President deliver on his mandate,” Ruto said.
On Friday, August 20, a 7-judge bench from Kenya’s appellate court upheld a ruling from the High Court that had found the constitutional amendments through the BBI unlawful.
