Make no mistake, BBI is about politicians’ pursuit of power

Earlier this week, I chanced upon a video clip in which Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago advised his constituents not to take too much to heart the confusion over the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

In a candid but light-hearted manner, which belied the seriousness of the matter, he told them that 90 per cent of the report concerns those already in leadership and do not want to let go, while only 10 per cent concerns them.

As such, he said, they should not lose sleep over the matter. I believed him. Getting too exercised over such half-understood issues is something we do too often while in the end, we do not gain anything.

However important the BBI recommendations may seem, in the end, they will not only benefit the stakeholders – the politicians – but many of them are meant to work against the aspirations of the voiceless, who are the majority.

While initially it was expected that the desired changes to the Constitution would be propelled and owned by the people, the process, as feared, has been hijacked by politicians, who are now playing high-stakes political games to ensure that only they control the trajectory and outcome of the proposed changes.

In short, many people, if asked, cannot understand the high-decibel posturing surrounding the BBI, but somehow they suspect they are being taken for a ride by politicians, which happens all the time.

Two things stand out here. The idea behind the Handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga was inspired, and indeed, it came as a welcome respite from incessant political bickering.

Those were turbulent times after the disputed 2017 elections when tensions were extremely high, and only the most cynical can really say the Handshake was a bad thing.

But it soon became evident that it had the unintended effect of enhancing polarisation instead of reducing it, and now, the Jubilee Party is close to implosion.

This, in my view, was caused by two things: insincerity and hypocrisy on the part of players on either side of the divide, and suspicion that everyone wants to pull a fast one on everyone else.

This, of course, is highly probable for politics is not, and has never been, a game for ninnies.

Make no mistake, whatever the original aims were, this BBI is now all about the 2022 presidential succession race.

In spite of what they say in public, and the BBI’s original aim, both Deputy President William Ruto and Mr Odinga are in the race, and the proposed constitutional changes are just a vehicle to transport them to the ultimate prize.

Mr Odinga is a formidable mobiliser of popular opinion, and on this BBI manenos, he is firmly on the driver’s seat.

The DP’s folks have been chafing about it but they cannot stand on a pedestal and complain about the seemingly underhand tactics.

They too have have been roaming the country doing exactly the same thing in the guise of launching development projects.

But, back to the BBI project. There is a growing feeling that an initiative that was meant to bring Kenyans together has only succeeded in pulling them apart due to the overweening ambitions of politicians.

It is a complicated issue that has divided the ruling party right down the middle and the rift is widening by the day.

The politicians will tell us where to go and we who have always submitted to being led by the nose will happily follow them.

But there is one major problem now; the paths the politicians are using have diverged in crucial and potentially dangerous ways.

How, for instance, can anyone reconcile the views of those who believe that the parliamentary system is the panacea for all the country’s ills, while another faction in the same party believe they will be greatly disadvantaged in a system that does not take into account the one man one vote mantra?

How can one agree to a constitutional change that envisages creating a third tier of governance in which governors seek to become regional kingpins just because they have reached the end of the road and hate the idea of term limits?

This BBI thing is not about you and me; it is just another ploy by politicians to perpetuate themselves in power.

Now that the clueless governor of Kiambu has been sent home, two things stand out.

First, the 353,604 voters who elected him to that office three years ago must by now have realised that a colossal mistake was made.

They gave Ferdinand Waititu the mandate to govern them because they wanted to spite their first governor and not because of the man’s impressive track record.

As a result, populist buffoonery trumped over common sense, with disastrous results. Hopefully, they have learnt a lesson or two.

The second lesson from the impeachment was that perhaps for the first time, the Senate has proved that it is not as toothless as it has been depicted.

This single act indicated that senators are quite capable of playing their oversight role to the full and keep wayward governors in check.

This is perhaps the only beneficial result – the subtle threat that if governors step out of line, they may get their marching orders from that August body.