Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, on Wednesday, December 18, opened up over the demand for an executive Prime Minister's post under the proposed BBI report.
Speaking at Miss White Spa - a hair studio and barbershop in Hurlingham Nairobi, the ODM party leader quickly rubbished claims that he was pushing for the creation of a powerful PM post.
"Those issues were never mentioned in the meeting. Now people are speaking of Raila's about-turn, which about-turn? I have never spoken about what you want. he stated.
I said that this report is not Raila's report. Its a report prepared by the team as a result of conversations they had with Kenyans," he added.
His latest remarks come in the wake of countless reports claiming that his party was demanding for the creation of a powerful PM post under the hotly debated BBI report.
According to a report published by the Daily Nation on December 18, 2019, sources from a five-hour closed-door ODM Parliamentary National Executive Council meeting had claimed that the team had agreed to push for the contentious post as well as two deputy PMs.
However, ODM party communications director Philip Etale, echoed the party leader's latest statement, going on to disclose that they had indeed aired various recommendations that they hoped would be adopted on the BBI report, but none touched on the issue of an executive PM.
One of the tenets that the party recommended for consideration was for the report to vouch for more inclusivity and consideration to people with disabilities and the youth in order to foster the growth of the nation.
"Robust submissions have been made for instance to expand support to women, persons with disabilities and the youth. For instance, since not all youth are entrepreneurs to benefit from the proposed 7-year tax break, our view is that similar tax breaks be extended to youth informal employment and those engaged in sports and the arts," he stated.
On his part, Raila maintained that he supported the extension of the BBI taskforce term, reiterating that it was important to further engage the public in order to come up with a more comprehensive report that would include the views and recommendations of the citizens.
