President Uhuru Kenyatta’s strategies to ensure the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) sails through has brought discomfort to members of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by Raila Odinga.
Uhuru has brought on board Kenya’s key political figures such as Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper, Moses Wetangula of Ford Kenya, Gideon Moi of Kanu and Narc leader Charity Ngilu to support the campaign for the Constitutional Amendment Bill which is now in the parliamentary stage.
According to ODM top officials, Uhuru’s BBI team remains politically unreliable and is using the president's decision to remain in the limelight.
“They are trying to force themselves into the limelight. But even if they are given space to campaign, they cannot take up the initiative. They want to take the limelight but on the back of the works of ODM,” an insider close to Raila was quoted by the press.
ODM’s inner circle is considering having the five political leaders treated only as friends of BBI since the possibility of having them as equal partners is far from becoming a reality.
According to the ODM’s insiders, the team brought by Uhuru is only interested in reviving their political relevance while benefiting from the BBI funds.
Edwin Sifuna who is the ODM Secretary-General disregarded the claims saying that BBI is open for everyone to support since it concerns all Kenyans. He equally emphasized who had initiated the BBI movement and that Kenyans know it.
“They can have any title, including supreme leaders of BBI as long as the document is passed. We do not care where they want to sit or which table. Kenyans know who initiated the BBI process.
The dissatisfaction by a section of ODM leaders comes barely three weeks after Uhuru hosted the five political leaders including former prime minister Raila Odinga at State House on February 25.
The meeting which was called by the President was meant to discuss the way forward for BBI with the BBI Secretariat Chairman Dennis Waweru adding that the team would identify regional leaders who will lead the campaigns.
However, ODM’s leader was in a foul mood with insiders saying that he (Raila) was reportedly cautious of attending the meeting with leaders he considered as having betrayed him after the 2017 general elections.
"Raila does not want to be used as a stepping stone for those seeking endorsements," a source told Nation.
Kalonzo, Mudavadi and Wetangula had a bitter fallout with the three ganging up against Raila saying that he rarely kept his promises.
The former Prime Minister, on the other hand, accused the three of betraying at the hour of need during his controversial swearing-in of the 2017 presidential candidate as the people's president.
Gideon Moi on his part has been focusing on placing himself at a strategic position that would likely incline him towards a national political position even though he is yet to declare his next political move.
The ODM Leader on his part is also waiting for the constitution amendment to sail through so that he can openly make a declaration on his next political move which is slightly more than a year to come.
