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Kenya: Uhuru Revisits BBI in His State of the Nation Address, Says Kenyans Stand to Lose Big

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4 years ago

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Nairobi — President Uhuru Kenyatta has defended his initiative with Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga to implement the Constitution through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) as “an urgent task that Kenyans cannot ignore.”

In his eighth Annual State of The Nation Address to the Joint Parliamentary Sitting, President Kenyatta said that political stabilisation is a continuous process that every administration must apply their minds to and secure.

“The need for political stabilisation is the most urgent task facing Kenya today, and it is the foundation upon, which our greater justice, fairness, health, wealth, and security will be built on. For that reason, it shall happen,” he said.

The BBI process was nullified by the High Court in a ruling that was later upheld by the Appeals court before its proponents moved to the Supreme Court where the matter is still pending.

On Tuesday, Kenyatta reiterated his stance that Kenya is staring at a constitutional moment as he explained that political stabilization doctrine is what guided his March 2018 handshake with Odinga

“Our country has been in a constitutional moment since the 2017 election. The only question is what we should do with that constitutional moment. If we do not embrace it, how will it return to punish our nation? And if we embrace it, who are the winners and losers of that moment? That is the National Question before us today,” he posed.

The Head of State regretted that by declaring the government backed Bill was illegal and unconstitutional, the courts had denied over 5 million registered voters an avenue that will end the winner-take-all structure of Kenyan politics, which is often followed by deadly violence.