BBI supporters push for August referendum

Proponents of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) now say the referendum on the proposed constitutional changes should be held by August.

They want to ensure the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is passed by Parliament and handed to President Uhuru Kenyatta before the end of next month.

Should the President promptly notify the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct a referendum, the 90-day statutory countdown will begin immediately.

BBI supporters said they are in talks with the electoral commission to hold the plebiscite much earlier.

BBI Secretariat co-chairmen Junet Mohammed and Dennis Waweru said they expect Parliament to approve the bill in May.

The National Assembly and Senate are on recess, with the former expected to resume sessions on May 4 and the latter on May 11. 

“We are on track. If Parliament passes the bill next month, the President will receive it and give it to the electoral commission as required by the law,” Mr Mohamed said.

Mr Waweru said the BBI secretariat has engaged the electoral agency to speed up the process “so it doesn’t necessarily wait for the 90 days to lapse once the President requests it to hold the referendum”.

“If we talk of within 90 days, we can have the referendum even after two days. Of course, we will need time for the campaigns. We have been engaging IEBC and hope it will be ready to conduct the vote in the shortest time possible,” Mr Waweru added.

Contacted, an IEBC official said everything would depend on the availability of funds.
Already, some Sh14.39 billion has been set aside for the referendum in the 2021/22 financial year budget.

BBI promoters

The allocation is contained in the Division of Revenue Bill, 2021 that was passed by the National Assembly last month and later forwarded to the Senate for consideration.

If all goes well for the BBI promoters, the earliest the IEBC can get the money is July.

This is because the cash allocated must be appropriated by the National Assembly in June and can only be released by the start of the next financial year on July 1.

However, a second supplementary budget can facilitate the release of funds to the poll agency earlier than July. 

Mr Mohamed said the most critical thing is for the National Assembly and Senate to consider the bill. 

The bill is before the Legal Affairs Committees of both Houses.

The team has hired experts to resolve six concerns on how Parliament will process the bill to amend the Constitution through a referendum.

The experts advising the joint committee on the six thematic areas are expected to present their final report to the lawmakers on Monday.

The committee, which is to submit a report on the BBI Bill to the House, has also scheduled a meeting on the same day to consider the advisory document. 

“The committee will have a meeting on April 18. We will finalise the report this weekend and present it to them on Monday,” one of the experts told the Nation yesterday.

Hurdles in court

The National Assembly and Senate legal teams picked Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote, who was interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission for the position of Chief Justice on Tuesday, and Dr Collins Odote.

Members of the committee said the two experts will advise them on the nature of the bill, public participation and its extent, the way of processing the bill, the substantive issue of the bill, referendum matters and the status of litigation in courts touching on the bill.

However, the proposed BBI referendum also faces hurdles in courts.

“Even though there are injunctions after injunctions from courts, we hope the issues will be handled amicably so that we meet our timelines,” Mohammed said.

National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi said the biggest BBI hurdle is the courts. 

“The only message I would want to send to the Judiciary and judges is that they too are Kenyans. They should know there is anxiety about the referendum and BBI. If they can dispense with a presidential petition and many other matters in a set period, why can’t they also deal with this issue quickly so that Kenyans know when we are going to have a referendum? This is the only problem,” Mr Mbadi told the Nation.  

The hearing of the eight cases in Nairobi, which were consolidated into one, has already been concluded, with judgment to be issued on notice. 

The hearing of another suit filed in Kakamega county is yet to begin. 

BBI Steering Committee Vice Chairman Adams Oloo acknowledged there are challenges facing the process. 

“There are things that the BBI said do not need the referendum. We must, however, have a champion and people ready to lead from the front for BBI to be secured,” Dr Oloo told a public forum on Friday.

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Additional reporting by David Mwere