President Uhuru Kenyatta is planning to meet leaders from Mt Kenya region at Sagana State Lodge in what is being referred to as a mega convention by his allies.
The planning of the event is at an advanced stage and the team is awaiting President Kenyatta’s approval to announce the date but reports claim it was scheduled for January 30.
“We have a meeting this weekend in Nairobi to finalise the Sagana convention which will bring together both elected and government officials from the region.
“We are also targeting grassroots leaders since it will not be a one-day event,” revealed a government official involved in the preparations for the meeting.
During the meeting, the president is set to galvanise his Mt Kenya base as the BBI process enters the crucial stage.
"The kind of momentum we are going to gather after the president’s meeting will surprise many. We have been quiet but we are now determined to go full throttle. You just wait and see,” the source added.
The event, dubbed Sagana 2, is a follow-up to a similar event held in 2019 where the attendees were frisked and phones were confiscated to ensure nothing leaked from the meeting.
Uhuru is also expected to address the perceived opposition the BBI has received in his backyard.
The president has been trying to beef up his support base in embracing the constitutional amendment.
Ruto has been making inroads in the region with Mt Kenya politicians who support him raising dissenting voices against the referendum.
So far, two of Uhuru’s allies have raised concerns about the risk of the BBI being rejected in Mt Kenya.
Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata, in a controversial letter, expressed his reservations that the document was likely to face challenges.
“Your Excellency, I concede I may be wrong. In fact, I wish I was wrong and that my views are a mere pessimistic view of things. However, if I am right and we do not take urgent remedial measures, I will pin myself permanently in the pillar of the shame of spectacular defeat,” he wrote.
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru argued that the BBI is a political process and thus ought to have been spearheaded by people who command sufficient influence in the region.
“While I wish them all the best, I must remind them and their appointers that BBI is a political process and if it is not led by people the community recognises as political influencers, it will have challenges, and that is the nature of politics,” she said.
