Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana on Wednesday, February 24 had his first public faceoff with Narc Kenya Party Leader Martha Karua since defecting from the Linda Katiba movement and joining the BBI bandwagon.
The two were in an interview debating on the passing of the Building Bridges Initiative bill by the county assemblies and the upcoming referendum vote.
Karua, who is part of civil rights activists leading the no vote under the Linda Katiba Movement, raised concern about the process of passing the bill in the majority of the counties.
"The Linda Katiba Movement remains unbowed and we say Aluta continua. I was not surprised at all by the passing of the BBI bill by the county assemblies."
"What with coercion, outright bribery, intimidation, including the threats to arrest. You will remember the Baringo MCAs who dared to vote no had threats of arrest hanging over their heads. It's not surprising at all," she said. She further insisted that Kenyans are more than the political leaders including those who are anti-BBI.
Kivutha, who was initially against the bill seemed to have had a change of heart. He, however, defended his shift claiming he runs a democratic government and bows to the will of the people.
"When you have 95 percent of memoranda saying yes when you have 46 venues which are 85 percent saying yes, as far as I was concerned I had to accept that the majority who participated said yes.
"As a consequence, what Kibwana thought and his position became secondary to what the majority said. Therefore I had to accept the will of the people," he claimed.
Karua challenged the level of public participation in Makueni County and in the country at large.
"Did the people of Makueni get a copy of the proposed bill, if so, how much time did they get with the bill, what other information was given to them except the bait of that 35 percent?" she challenged.
The Governor said that there was not enough time to do considerable civic education but it would be done before going into the referendum should it be done.
Kivutha further defended his meeting with ODM party leader Raila Odinga, saying that he should not be demonized for holding a meeting with any political leader. He recognized the role he has played in terms of the country's reform movement, constitution, and devolution making
"When one goes to Raila to consult and discuss national matters, they should not be demonized. That you're going to so and so and they are not good, sometimes you talk to the deputy president, you talk to the president."
"I don't know whether am expected to just stay in Makueni and not talk to anybody so that I can be pure. With Martha, we can be pure, be the ideal of saying no to proposals and all that kind of stuff," he stated.
The Makueni County boss was adamant that he would continually meet the leaders to brainstorm on matters involving the nation as a small way of building bridges.
