To vie or not will depend on BBI verdict, declares Raila

**ODM leader Raila Odinga popularizing BBi in Lodwar Barasa Park.** [Emmanuel Wanson, Standard]

Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s announcement on Thursday that he is betting on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) to determine whether he will be on the ballot next year has thrown wide open the high stakes attached to the process.

The ODM leader has hitherto avoided talk of 2022 polls and whether his name will be on the ballot. Cautious and measured in his words, he has always insisted on his bigger vision for the country through the BBI, and how the focus ought to be on BBI.

But with time running out – the General Election is August next year – and with other candidates picking their momentum inside and outside the BBI matrix, Raila came out on Thursday to say BBI results held the answer as to whether his name will be on the ballot.

Deputy President William Ruto is riding against the BBI to campaign for his presidential bid while Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi, Kanu Chairman Gideon Moi and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka are leading the charge within the pro-BBI group.

“Kabla BBI haijapita sisemi kama mimi nitasimama ama kama mimi sitasimama (Until BBI passes, I will not announce whether I will be on the ballot or not,” Raila told a radio station.

Raila is currently leading the drive to obtain the 24 county assemblies’ approval for the BBI. This week alone, he has held a plethora of meetings with various interest groups to convince them to back BBI. For the last three days, Raila pitched camp in the expansive Turkana County to woo support for the document.

He scaled up his attacks on Ruto, describing him as a “pathological liar who should not be trusted by Kenyans”.

From his remarks in the last few days, Raila is firing on all cylinders for BBI and against Ruto. He is also slowly coming to terms with the reality of BBI and 2022 being joined together at the hip.

“Ruto is telling us that Jubilee administration stopped functioning after the Handshake. Had they delivered any of their promises before the 2017 General Election?” Raila told Turkana residents, yesterday. He was accompanied by Petroleum Cabinet Secretary John Munyes and a host of MPs.

He said the DP was in the frontline in explaining Jubilee promises, including free laptops for children and one million decent jobs for the youth every year and should be held responsible for the failures.

“He promised stadiums for every county and one million jobs. Have you seen the stadiums and jobs?” Raila posed.

The ODM leader said it was dishonest for Ruto to promise Kenyan youth modern jobs in 2013, only to embark on distributing wheelbarrows eight years later.

“This is a leader who is forgetful; he has forgotten he made promises,” Raila said.

He urged Turkana residents to support the BBI Bill, saying it will solve challenges bedeviling marginalised communities through equity in sharing of national resources.

“We want BBI to pass because it will solve most challenges facing the country, including unemployment. Some of the issues we raised with President Uhuru Kenyatta in the BBI process are administrative, but we are subjecting other issues, which can’t be implemented administratively, to a referendum,” Raila said in Lodwar town.

He was accompanied by Embakasi MP Babu Owino, Jeremiah Lomurkai (Loima), Gladys Wanga (Homa Bay) and Maina Kamanda (nominated), among others.

He called for peace in the volatile Kapedo area along the border of Turkana County, backed the establishment of Kainuk-Lodwar-South Sudan border highway and Lapsset and announced that an oil refinery will be established in Isiolo County to tap on crude oil from the region.

Munyes asked Turkana MCAs to pass the Bill and be counted among counties that have endorsed the constitutional changes.

“I want you to pile pressure on your MCAs so that Turkana becomes one of the assemblies that will pass BBI. It will be shameful if we are left behind,” he said.

Raila’s loyalists have quietly been pressuring him to “chew gum and scale the stairs” at the same time with regard to BBI and 2022 preparations. They have been worried that over reliance on BBI could cost him dearly at a time he cannot afford to make mistakes.

They have also prevailed upon him to dissociate himself from Jubilee failures, build on his brand but also make it clear he will be on the ballot, all in good time. Raila has however been reluctant, owing to a mix of factors, including fear of breaking up the pro-BBI coalition.

If it passes, the Constitutional Amendment (Bill) 2020 will alter the current structure of the Executive by introducing new positions of prime minister and two deputies who will be elected MPs.

It also seeks to have a section of Members of the National Assembly appointed as ministers.

Political analyst Javas Bigambo says if BBI passes, Raila will be granted the carrot to dangle to either bring back the Nasa principals or help him build another pentagon for 2022.