Uhuru, Raila to Launch Collection of One Million BBI Signatures

ODM leader Raila Odinga says the countrywide collection of one million signatures required for a referendum will commence next week.

Speaking on Friday during a media briefing at his office in Nairobi, Odinga said they want the exercise completed as soon as possible so the signatures can be submitted to IEBC for verification.

Together with President Kenyatta, Odinga is pushing for a referendum through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

“BBI signature collection will be launched next week. We want that exercise done as quickly as possible so that the matter is handed to IEBC then we can move towards the next phase of a referendum,” Odinga stated.

“This matter [referendum] should be concluded by latest April 2021.”

Once IEBC verifies the signatures, the BBI bill will be handed over to the 47 county assemblies for debate.

Odinga made it clear that there is no time to make major amendments to the final BBI report that was released last month.

“People have had the opportunity to talk about all those issues, two years now. This is a democratic society. They are entitled to their views. We go by the views of the majority,” he remarked.

During his State-of-the-Nation address on Thursday, President Uhuru called on Kenyans to rally behind BBI, saying it will provide long-term solutions to some of the challenges facing the country.

“…Let us engage in positive discourse on BBI with a view to effecting far-reaching changes that will address the perennial challenges we have faced as a nation including negative ethnicity; inclusion; equitable development and our fight against corruption,” Kenyatta urged.