Deputy President William Ruto on Monday, November 16, hosted a group of leaders in his Karen home where he drummed up support for a 'no referendum' campaign.
Members of the County Assembly of Wajir led by Majority Leader Mohamud Gabane and Minority Leader Abdi Hussein, held talks with the DP who called for the immediate shelving of any referendum talks.
"A divisive referendum process cannot be used to achieve a united country. We must at the moment prioritize the health of our people and focus on countering the effects of Covid-19.
"County Assemblies must work together and push for progressive engagements around the Building Bridges Initiative so that we can build a consensus on the report. They must shun a forced yes-no campaign that threatens to be retrogressive to the country," DP Ruto asserted.
During the launch of the BBI report at the Bomas of Kenya, despite being booed and almost heckled off the stage, the deputy president maintained that there was need to look relook some of the proposals within the document.
“Let me say, on the matter of IEBC, the recommendations I have read say that political parties participate in the appointment of commissioners to IEBC. How fair will a league be where the referee is appointed by teams? How fair will this league be,” he asked during his address to the delegates.
“The 2010 Constitution was very clear that police must act independently of any politician. To recommend that we will have a police council chaired by a CS (cabinet secretary) is a derogation of the independence of the police,” he cautioned.
DP Ruto has since been steadily calling for further scrutiny of the document, with his key allies calling for an outright rejection of the document in its current state.
Over the weekend, Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana went all out, on DP Ruto's helicopter, to campaign against the BBI without revising it.
The Catholic church and Kenya Council of Churches and Ministries (KCCAM) have also expressed their opposition to the BBI report as it is.
On the other hand, ODM Party leader Raila Odinga met with several leaders in Kisumu on Sunday, November 15, where they agreed to unanimously pass the document without making any changes.
"After successful deliberations, Governors from Nyanza & Western region have agreed to support the BBI report without any reservations. The exercise to collect 1 million signatures is set to commence next week to initiate the referendum process," Interior CS Fred Matiang'i announced following the Kisumu meeting.
