DP Ruto 'explains his position on BBI'
Deputy President William Ruto on Wednesday led more than 100 legislators, several governors and other politicians in opposing the drive to have the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) referendum held in 2021.
The DP and his supporters recommended that the plebiscite should instead be held alongside the 2022 General Election to save taxpayer funds.
In a press conference, Dr Ruto insisted that there was still time to build more consensus for a “win-win” referendum instead of a “win-lose” one.
Leading politicians allied to the Tangatanga movement, the DP opposed several clauses, which have been included in the Constitution 2020 Referendum Bill.
Signatures are already being collected in support of the referendum.
However, the Deputy President refused to be drawn directly to questions whether he will lead the No campaign in the referendum if it is held by August last year as planned.
DP Ruto and his team also said that the referendum should not be a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote but each article should be voted on independently.
“Why will anyone need to oppose the document as a whole? We can isolate the issues which you want to vote for and reject those you don’t want,” the Deputy President said.
Dr Ruto called for more consensus on various issues among them the appointment of the judiciary, affirmative action, returning the 47 women representatives elected to National Assembly and furthering proposals in Article 11 to empower pastoralists, farmers and SMEs whom he referred to as the “Hustler Nation”.
“Given the foregoing, it is legitimate to question the wisdom of expending Sh14 billion a year before an election that will cost another Sh42 billion (2017 figures), when the referendum could be conducted as a seventh ballot in the General Election at virtually no extra cost. We believe it is prudent to hold the referendum along with the General Election in 2022,” Dr Ruto said.
The Deputy President, however, agreed that the referendum Bill was a big improvement from the first BBI report released in October 2019 and the second one that was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga in October this year.
