Gladys Shollei Clashes With Murkomen Over Referendum

Two days after Senate majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen declared his support for a proposed referendum on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) which he termed as 'a must', Uasin Gishu Woman Representative Gladys Shollei came out guns blazing as she dismissed talk of a referendum being a done deal.

With both leaders being vocal members of Jubilee Party's Tangatanga faction allied to Deputy President William Ruto, Shollei, during an appearance on NTV's AM Live on Monday, January 27, reiterated that talk of the poll was 'legitimizing the illegitimate'.

"When we say we go to a referendum, that is legitimizing the illegitimate. First of all, you cannot say from the table here we'll go to a referendum. Kwanza (first of all), what are the questions that are going to the referendum? Then we will know whether it is a referendum issue or not a referendum issue.

"It may be that the things that come out of BBI II may not be issues that don't require a referendum," she asserted.

Uasin Gishu Woman Representative Gladys Shollei during an interview with K24 on Sunday, August 18, 2019.

Shollei argued that the Senator Yussuf Haji-led taskforce was yet to release the final version of the BBI report that would determine whether a referendum was necessary.

She questioned ongoing talk of a referendum being held by July noting it pointed towards a predetermined outcome on the BBI matter.

"Why are we predetermining that we are going to a referendum when we don't even know whether the recommendations are going to say so.

"It is like a predetermined process that we will go to a referendum, yet for the wananchi, the report is not out for us to go to a referendum," the lawmaker expressed.

At the BBI rally held at the Mama Ngina Waterfront in Mombasa on Saturday, January 25, Murkomen left the crowd cheering as he declared his backing for a referendum.

"For what we have recommended including the creation of a Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister's post, Kenya must go to a referendum.

"The people of the Rift Valley and the people of the Coast were the pillars of devolution and the parliamentary system. Now that President Uhuru Kenyatta, Moses Kuria (Gatundu South MP), Waiguru (Ann - Kirinyaga Governor) and our brothers from the (Central) region have accepted the Prime Minister and a parliamentary system nothing can stop it.

"We must go to a referendum for Kenyans to get leaders that want to bring them together," he thundered.

Tangatanga leaders had hitherto criticised the proposed referendum and the BBI regional forums which they claimed were a waste of public resources.

Watch Shollei's appearance on AM Live courtesy of NTV below:

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