Kenya Kwanza: We demand audit of funds spent on BBI

Kenya Kwanza coalition wants the Auditor-General to undertake a forensic audit of all public funds spent on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) from its inception to date.

The political alliance on Friday said it was mobilising its members in the National Assembly and the Senate to push for the audit.

In a statement, Deputy President William Ruto, Musalia Mudavadi (ANC) and Moses Wetang'ula (Ford Kenya) said many expenses were associated with the popularisation of the initiative. “The public funds used in the unconstitutional process were not appropriated by the National Assembly for that purpose but were rather an illegal diversion of public funds by some accounting officers who decided to use their offices to finance politics, contrary to the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.

“Our members at the National Assembly are moving a motion compelling the Auditor-General to undertake a forensic audit of all public funds spent in the illegal process from inception to date,” the coalition said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the BBI reforms, saying President Uhuru Kenyatta picked a wrong route – the popular initiative – to initiate changes to the Constitution.

Political machinations

Kenya Kwanza lauded the Judiciary for its decision, saying Kenyans had been liberated from political machinations that were being forced on them.

“We, the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, reiterate our commitment to standing with the Judiciary. We salute the women and men who braved the odds of the day and delivered a judgment well coined within the law, and, more specifically, for standing with Kenyans.

“We applaud the Supreme Court for standing together with the people in their commitment to jealously guarding and defending the sanctity of the Constitution,” they said.

At the same time, Dr Ruto has assured fishermen affected by construction of the new Lamu Port project that his administration would prioritise their compensation should he win the presidency.

The fishermen, whose land the port is built on, have yet to receive Sh1.7 billion awarded to them by a Malindi court in 2018.

Addressing residents of Mokowe, Hindi, Mkunumbi, and Kibaoni towns in Lamu West on his second-day tour of the county, DP Ruto said the government has not taken the compensation issue seriously. He said apart from the Sh1.76 billion Lapsset compensation package, which he termed little money, Kenya Kwanza also plans to set aside Sh50 billion for small businesses, including fishermen.

Direct tickets

Elsewhere, the DP’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ruled out issuing direct tickets to aspirants in the forthcoming party primaries.

UDA National Elections Board (NEB) chairman Antony Mwaura said on Friday the primaries slated for April 14 will be free and fair to ensure the will of the people prevails.

“I want to reiterate that all aspirants will be given equal opportunity to participate. We will not be issuing direct tickets to any aspirants during the primaries. We are, however, encouraging consensus among aspirants who come from the same regions. Once they have agreed, they are required to come to us and we sign the agreement involving all the parties,” said Mr Mwaura.