National consultation is integral for our democracy

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report that was released on November 27, 2019 has entered its second phase.

The document must be supported by all Kenyans if its recommendations are to be implemented. President Uhuru Kenyatta recently extended the term of the BBI team. This will enable the team to steer the implementation of the report.

The extension of the BBI mandate should not be understood as a political manoeuvre by a few leaders as claimed by some politicians.

Any such claims insult both the taskforce’s hard work and the government’s desire to ensure the successful implementation of the report.

According to State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena, the 18-month deadline is designed to, “steer the next phase of the process, which will largely involve expanding and guiding public participation, and structuring recommendations by Kenyans into implementable action plans”.

Nobody thought that implementation of the BBI’s recommendations would be an easy task.

Although the taskforce collected information on how citizens would like to see the issues facing Kenyans addressed, how these translate into concrete changes is a different story.

It requires further endeavours by the team of 14 experts who led the initial phase of the project.

It is easy to see the logic behind retaining those who traversed the country collecting and synthesising citizens’ opinions into the BBI report.

Unfounded claims have been put forth regarding alleged illicit underlying intentions that led to the extension of the BBI mandate.

Some people have alleged that the report was incomplete and that the extension of the taskforce’s mandate is an attempt to compensate for that.

It is not reasonable to think that the government would publish an incomplete version of a report.

President Kenyatta has always taken complex issues affecting the nation head on. Claims that the released version of the BBI “was doctored to calm political temperatures” are untrue.

Such claims simply serve to divide the country and promote individual agenda, rather than unifying Kenya.

The natural progression of a document as comprehensive as the BBI is first to compile the primary report, then to begin the implementation stage.

This will be facilitated by technical teams, all of which will give their professional input as to how these recommendations can best be made a reality.

Any expectation that no further work would be required is unrealistic.

The legal, governmental and infrastructural changes that the report has called for must be implemented gradually and carefully.

These changes will guide Kenya’s development over the next decade and beyond.

Instead of wasting time on unfounded criticisms, the time has come to see this expansion for what it is; a continuation of the democratic process of consultation that began with the handshake between President Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. 

The BBI report means well for all Kenyans.

The Kenyan people have spoken and unity stands at the top of their agenda. The sooner the BBI’s opponents realise this, the more successful the initiative will be.

As citizens, we should be more vocal in supporting the BBI report.