This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's decision to extend the term of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) team has sparked debate, with some politicians claiming it's a political manoeuvre.
However, State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena clarified that 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.'
The BBI report, released on November 27, 2019, collected information on how citizens would like to see issues facing Kenyans addressed, but its implementation requires further endeavours by the team of 14 experts who led the initial phase.
Unfounded claims have been made regarding alleged illicit underlying intentions behind the extension of the BBI mandate, with some people alleging that the report was incomplete and the extension is an attempt to compensate for that.
However, it's not reasonable to think that the government would publish an incomplete version of a report, and President Kenyatta has always taken complex issues affecting the nation head on.
The natural progression of a document as comprehensive as the BBI is first to compile the primary report, then to begin the implementation stage, facilitated by technical teams that will give their professional input on how these recommendations can best be made a reality.
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.
