Here is what BBI has for you

Are the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) consultation forums striking a nerve in you? Are you overwhelmed with reading the 156-page BBI report?
The gender desk dissects the Kenyan woman’s stake in the initiative.

Genesis of BBI

BBI was initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on March 9, 2018, after the two resolved to bury their political differences.

The BBI has nine-points of focus. A Building Bridges to Unity Advisory Taskforce was gazetted on May 31, 2018 to look into BBI and evaluate challenges hindering the creation of a united Kenya.

Having consulted the public, the taskforce compiled a report with recommendations on the way forward. It was launched on November 27, 2019 at the Bomas of Kenya.

Women’s stake in the initiative

The BBI report presents opportunities for women to challenge the status quo and advance politically, economically and culturally.

The proposal as spearheaded by politicians, is to have a referendum that will make it a Kenyans’ initiative, thus implementable by the Government.

Four public consultations have been held in regions representing Nyanza, Western, Coast and Eastern. The first forum was held in Kisii, followed by Kakamega, Mombasa, Kitui and now heads to Narok with the hope of taking it to all counties.

Political leaders have given their proposals on operationalisation of the given recommendations during the forums. The public is also expected to give their proposals; and women should be in the forefront. Below are the BBI’s points of focus:

Lack of a national ethos

National ethos, as described in the report ascribes to excellent leadership, civic practices of citizenship, and our care and consideration of one another.

To remedy the lack, the taskforce suggests that the government strengthens the Ministry of Culture and Heritage to promote cultural policies. This will then promote each county and its cultural activities.
It also proposes the linking of Kenyan cultural values and modern norms, as reflected in rites of passage, to constitutional values and principles, and the responsibilities and rights of citizenship.
The Ministry of Culture would guide on policy implementation which would then encourage councils of elders or community leaders to include men and women in formalising rites of passage.

It should be remembered that women are equally custodians of vernacular language, traditional practices and wealth of knowledge on preservation of food or growing traditional foods, among other cultural issues.

Again, Female Genital Mutilation as a rite of passage, leads to girl-child marriages; unfortunately, the practice is still rampant is some parts of the country. How effective can the unequal gender power relations be addressed by BBI proposal to address issues relating to rites of passage?

Responsibilities and rights

Developing and implementing the national ethos depends on every Kenyan embracing responsibilities and rights a patriotic citizen. Here, effective parenting is identified as a responsibility that would contribute to building national ethos.

The BBI team recommends formation of an inter-ministerial taskforce to develop a generic and simple parenting curriculum, and make it available to religious and cultural institutions, health centres, and chiefs and sub-chiefs for dissemination. To women, any take on this?

Ethnic antagonism and competition
“If we do not find a better way to manage our diversity, particularly in power struggles, it will be our collective ruin,” the taskforce notes.
“Even those who benefit from dividing us along ethnic lines will lose, and their children, and children’s children, will lose when this mode of competition runs out of room, as it eventually will,” it adds.

Doing away with a winner-take-all model for Presidency and opting for a more consociational model that works best for ethnically divided societies, fair distribution of resources, accelerating regional integration and institutionalising of national political parties, are proposals made to address ethnic antagonism and competition.

The taskforce recommends that the Executive reflects the face of Kenya in public service appointments. This means women and men should get a fair share of the cake.

In distribution of resources, they propose that the government considers benefitting the population through investment in healthcare and agriculture, service provision and access to natural resources and livelihood opportunities. This requires the voice of women since it is an issue of concern as studies have shown.

On accelerating regional integration, the government should make prioritise integration with neighbouring countries to achieve the political federation, the ultimate objective of the East African Community (EAC) treaty.

Women are among the business community in the EAC. Can they foresee their exclusion in uniting the region as a preventable damage? So what would they want?

Institutionalisation of national political parties, requires that political parties be compelled to reflect the face of Kenya in ethnic, religious, regional and gender terms. In this case, women have a wider benchmark to demand for substantive representation in political leadership.

Divisive elections

“Our politics have taken on the aspect of a conflict that every five years threatens to destroy lives and even puts the continuity of our country at risk,” notes the taskforce.

“It allows those we charge with responsibility, from the high offices of State, to our schools, churches, and mosques to manifest the worst in themselves and to degrade our trust even further.”
To tame divisive elections, the taskforce proposes an autochthonous national executive structure and inclusive representation in the electoral system.

The home-grown structure would have the Executive President as the Head of State and Government and the Commander-in-Chief with two-term limit.

A Prime Minister appointed by the President, Leader of the Official Opposition, who would be the runner-up of the Presidential election.
The Leader of the Official Opposition would be enabled to have a shadow cabinet to challenge the government’s positions in Parliament.

Finland has a female prime minister, Sanna Marin, leading a coalition government of five political parties, all led by women. Can Kenyan women borrow from Finland?

It is recommended that the Registrar of Political Parties and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ensures political parties adhere to the two-thirds gender rule in their nominations.

Inclusivity

At the heart of inclusivity are proposals to have policies to generate economic development leading to equality and equity, besides investing in indigenous knowledge, cultural technologies embedded in traditions and practices, foods and medicines

Different regions of the country present different economic and cultural opportunities, so how will these policies take into account interests of both genders? Gender-sensitive budgeting is an essential component in eliminating obstacles trailing women in key spheres of development.

But women’s views, in the making of county and national budgets, would be domiciled in their minds if they are not shared in public forums.

Shared prosperity
The team proposes that the State be held accountable on opening markets for labour-intensive manufactured Kenyan goods in EAC countries. This would result to more business opportunities for women and youth, taking into account the government’s support of women and youth-led enterprises through Uwezo Fund and Women Enterprise Fund.

Regarding lending to priority sectors, the government would provide legal and regulatory guidelines for banks to lend a part of their portfolio to priority sectors. These are micro, small and medium businesses, export credit, manufacturing, housing, education, health and renewable energy. It also includes sanitation and waste management, and agriculture including livestock and fishing. Do women have any proposal in this regard?

It proposes that each county holds one employment conference with representation from the national government. The conference would provide a platform to deliberate on economic management strategies to expand employment opportunities, something beneficial to women and youth.

On corruption, the team proposes material incentives for information that leads to asset seizure and prosecution of corruption-related offenders, and awarding a five per cent share of proceeds recovered from anti-corruption prosecutions.

The taskforce has also suggests a Kubadili Plan intended to lift marginalised wards out of underdevelopment. It would identify the wards and establish a framework of building the social and economic infrastructure to facilitate development.

The team proposes making Kenya a 100 per cent e-service nation by digitising government services, processes, payment systems, and record keeping.
What happens to illiterate and poor women in the rural villages? Can the women offer recommendations in this regards?

Devolution

Under devolution, the team suggests a Biashara mashinani programme run by counties where local groups are supported to grow businesses. In addition, it wants counties to put more development money in response to specific needs in the wards, as well as strengthen healthcare provision.

Safety and security

Here, government’s responsibility to lower citizens’ vulnerability to resource conflicts, disasters, emergencies and food insecurity is highlighted. It recommends establishment of a commission to resolve current boundary conflicts namely Meru-Isiolo; Meru-Tharaka Nithi; Baringo-Turkana; Garissa-Tana River and Kisumu-Vihiga among others.

In the same context, prioritise combatting sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) through focusing and resourcing specific policing and prevention measures.

Women have a voice to share their views on the highlighted proposals through a memoranda to the team.