This archive report was first published on 6 December 2019.
December 6, 2019
President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga's Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report has been touted as a turning point in Kenyan politics, aimed at ending the cyclic violence that marks every election.
However, the initiative has triggered a new round of political confrontation, revealing the country's problems run far deeper than proposed solutions by a select group of leaders.
President Kenyatta's public outburst against critics of the BBI is a clear indication that all is not well. Critics, including Deputy President William Ruto's supporters, view the initiative as a political tool to block their man from ascending to the presidency.
On the other hand, supporters see it as a panacea to the country's political ills, citing the level of tranquility and promise for the future since the President and Mr Odinga shook hands in March last year.
However, the handshake and the BBI mask a bigger problem: the country has not addressed fundamental questions about ethnicity, electoral fraud, unemployment, insecurity, poor governance, corruption, and State capture.
As currently conceived, the BBI report aims to address exclusion and marginalization, deepen devolution, fight corruption, and restore public morality. Yet, these issues are well-tackled by the Constitution, which intended to redefine the nation's socio-economic and political orientation and resolve historical injustices.
President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga have exhorted Kenyans to read the BBI report before making up their minds. However, they are pushing for unquestioned acceptance, which is why they do not countenance divergent views.
But that approach is likely to kill the document. If it is a good report with practical solutions, it will be accepted. If it has faults, it will be rejected. And Kenyans have a right to do that – that is what democracy is all about.
