Raila now meets Nyanza MCAs over BBI

ODM leader Raila Odinga with Governor Wycliffe Oparanya and others. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

ODM leader Raila Odinga has called a meeting with all the party’s MCAs, MPs and governors in Nyanza to drum up support for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

Party Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna has written to leaders for an urgent consultation meeting in Kisumu on Tuesday. The meeting comes hot on the heels of the Sagana State Lodge meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and leaders from Mt Kenya region.

The Bill was sent to 47 county Assemblies last week, with IEBC announcing it had verified over one million signatures in support of the initiative to amend the Constitution. According to Sifuna, the meeting shall bring together not more than 200 people, including select few business elites, the council of elders and professionals.

Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o will host the meeting at Ciala Resort. The county assemblies in Nyanza are already warming up to debate the Bill.

Yesterday, Kisumu assembly Speaker Elisha Oraro, in a special Gazette notice, called for a special sitting with all the MCAs next week to discuss the document.

“We have called for a special meeting and we shall not waste time to pass the BBI Bill,” Oraro told the Sunday Standard.

The same stand was echoed by Siaya Speaker George Okode, Migori’s Boaz Okoth and Homa Bay’s Elizabeth Ayoo, who all declared to rally support for the BBI Bill.

“We will also meet next week and dispense with the Bill. Our members say they are content with its proposals,” Okode said.

MCAs Seth Kanga from Kisumu, Joseph Mboha from Siaya and Hevron Maira from Migori lauded their counterparts from Mt Kenya for committing to pass the BBI Bill.

The assemblies in Nyanza’s six counties of Migori, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Siaya, Nyamira and Kisii are under the control of ODM. Most of the MCAs and all the governors were elected on the party’s ticket.

The Constitutional (Amendment) Bill 2020 needs to be passed by at least 24 counties for it to move to the next level. ODM Chairman John Mbadi said the current actions by both Uhuru and Raila may see the BBI process fast-tracked.

“The latest show of events is an affirmation that both the president and Opposition leader have now taken charge to steer the BBI agenda to fruition,” Mbadi said.