Members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) have taken issue with a number of provisions that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Taskforce is touting.
The JSC, in submissions obtained by the Standard Newspaper after their sitting, dismissed some of the issues that the Building Bridges Initiative is purporting to address, one reason being that the issues that need to be addressed are not 'alien' in the country.
They said that the recurrence of some issues as raised by the people is not symptomatic of what is missing but rather a reflection of the country's failure to make behavioural changes that perfectly align with the changes that have been developed in the past decade.
Another point of concern by the JSC was that the country has had a myriad of reform ideas over the years.
Citing the Agenda Four Initiative, Kriegler Report, Waki Report, The Constitution, The Economic Recovery Strategic Paper, Vision 2030 and the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, the JSC made it clear that if not enough measures are taken with the BBI, it would end up getting lost in the cycle that other reports to have been.
The judges also poked a hole on the provisions on leadership and integrity, saying that they have been viewed 'as an inconvenience and irritation' when they hold the key to the prosperity of the country.
No country cannot prosper without proper leadership.
The JSC also said that the issue of divisive elections, which forms the bone of the handshake deal was exhaustively covered by the Kriegler and Waki Commissions.
They wrote that all that is needed to go about that is to implement them as recommended.
They said that the country's problems do not lie with divisive elections per se but rather the absence of integrity in electoral processes. They cited the cases of 1997, 2002, 2005 elections and the 2010 referendum. This was a challenge to the notion that the 'winner takes all' narrative is what causes strife after elections.
"Unless BBI addresses itself with honesty, candour, and courage to the question of why these existing institutions and initiatives are sub-optimal in their outcomes, then this report will merely join the already existing body of work to be ignored, undermined or poorly implemented," the JSC wrote.
People from many quarters have dismissed the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), as a people-driven participatory process and a tool for the Kenyan political elite to consolidate their power. Some, however, have said that the submissions of the BBI are needed to restore parity and peace in the country.
The BBI Initiative was founded by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga to collect information from Kenyans across the country in an attempt to address electoral injustices once and for all.
The task force is expected to give a report that reflects Kenyans views on ethnic antagonism, lack of national ethos, inclusivity, devolution, divisive elections, security, fight against corruption, shared prosperity and responsibility.
