President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga were engrossed in an hour-long phone conversation that was followed by two press statements; one by the opposition party and the other by Building Bridges Initiative Secretariat Co-Chair Dennis Waweru.
Multiple media reports quoted their sources indicating that the Wednesday morning, March 31, dwelled on the perceived fallout of the handshake brothers which had greatly affected the BBI process.
“The two held a telephone conversation at around 7 am, which lasted for about an hour; the issues revolved around the continued talk that the handshake and BBI are under threat because the unity between the president and Raila had collapsed.
“There were also concerns about claims that Raila was leaning towards Ruto, and, therefore, it was agreed that Raila calls a meeting (with his troops) and discounts the narrative,” the insider was quoted by local dailies.
The phone call was preceded by reports that the BBI secretariat offices had been closed and Uhuru’s Mr Fix It Interior PS Karanja Kibicho allegedly threatening the unity of the handshake.
The claims were further fuelled by the One Kenya Alliance of Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, Gideon Moi and Moses Wetang’ula's move to isolate Odinga in their 2022 political strategy.
Political pundits opined that an isolated Odinga was likely to collaborate with DP Ruto who has fallen out with President Kenyatta.
However, following the early morning phone call, Raila met with senior ODM officials and put out a statement reaffirming the party’s commitment to the spirit of the Handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“We agreed that the BBI must be subjected to a referendum because it entails a fundamental reorganisation of the architecture of the Executive and Kenyans need to have a say in the reorganisation. The party, therefore, fully supports a referendum on the document,” the statement by Odinga.
BBI Secretariat Co-Chair Dennis Waweru has also insisted that despite the new restrictions announced by President Kenyatta, the referendum would still be held within the set timelines.
“We are confident that we are on course and we will still stick within the timelines we had given earlier.
We had indicated that we wanted to push this process through and ensure that by June or July we should be headed to a referendum,” the former MP said.
