Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho was on Wednesday, November 5, forced to save Kiambu Woman Representative Gathoni wa Muchomba from a hostile crowd in Githunguri, Kiambu County.
Gathoni, who was campaigning for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report and asking residents to rally behind it, met a tough crowd that heckled and shouted her down.
The residents in President Uhuru Kenyatta's home county of Kiambu maintained that they wanted development in the area but were not ready to support the BBI.
Despite her numerous questions and request to the residents to support the document, the crowd stood their ground. They were not ready to support the report.
"You do not want to support the document but you want money. How then will you get the money?" she posed as the crowd responded saying that they wanted the money.
"You do not want additional bursary funds?" she posed as the residents responded saying they did not.
Amid the chaos, Gathoni turned to PS Kibicho, known for the no-nonsense demeanour to calm down the angry locals.
Kibicho calmed the situation and asked residents to read the report and understand it, rather than let leaders influence their decisions.
"Let us not allow our emotions to blind us, rather, let us read the report and make our decisions," Kibicho stated.
The BBI team is now expected to collect 1 million signatures required by the constitution, which is expected to take 30 days from November 2 to December 2.
Refining and submission of the signatures to the IEBC is expected to be completed by December 9 to allow the commission to verify them under the mandated timeframe.
President Kenyatta has already signed into law the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Amendment Bill No. 3 of 2019 which establishes a selection panel to oversee the recruitment of commissioners to fill vacant positions as future appointments to the electoral agency.
The draft referendum bill is scheduled to be presented to the various county assemblies which will be required to either reject or approve the proposals by February 19, 2021.
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