UPDATE:
Activist Okiya Omtata on January 13, 2020, filed a petition in court seeking the reversal of the decision by President Uhuru Kenyatta to extend the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) taskforce's mandate by appointing a 14-member implementation team.
This was after the president gazetted the appointment of the team that comprises BBI taskforce co-chairs Senator Yusuf Haji and his Busia counterpart Amos Wako. The team that is named the 'Steering Committee on the Implementation of the Building Bridges to a United Kenya Taskforce Report' is expected with producing proposals that would set the stage for the implementation of the BBI Report.
In a special gazette notice dated January 10, 2020, the president announced that he had okayed the extension which had been mooted on December 12, during a meeting with the ODM leader Raila Odinga and the task force team at State House, Nairobi.
"It is notified for the general information of the public that Uhuru Kenyatta, President, and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, has appointed the steering committee of the Building Bridges to a United Kenya task force report.
"The steering committee shall submit its comprehensive advice to the government by June 30, 2020, or such date as the President may, by notice in the Gazette prescribe," the gazette notice announced.
President Kenyatta's move comes amidst sentiments by Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula, former National Assembly Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim and Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims chair Hassan ole Naado who faulted the extension.
“We support the good work that the BBI task force team did, but we don’t support the extension of its term,” Wetang’ula stated in December 2019.
DP William Ruto had also called for an end to BBi issues so that the country could engage in the development agenda.
“We want to bring an end to all these BBI issues and focus on the transformation of our country via the Big Four Agenda and Vision 2030,” he told a crowd in Western Kenya on January 10, 2020.
On the other side, however, ODM leader Raila Odinga and other government leaders have embarked on a mission to popularize the report.
On January 10, 2020, Odinga was accompanied by Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru and Interior CS Fred Matiang'i on a tour of Kisii county to hold what was referred to as a consultative meeting on the BBI report.
The pro-BBI team has planned another of such forums for January 18, 2020, at the Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega county.
