IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and ODM Leader Raila Odinga This morning, a typing error on a social media post published by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) sparked huge uproar from the Kenyan online community after they termed President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s pet project, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), as the “Burning Bridges Initiative”.
The commission made the rather strange error while announcing the launch of the BBI signature verification exercise at the Bomas of Kenya on Wednesday, December 30. In the tweet that has since been deleted, the electoral body created a serious buzz for making the blunder that meant the exact opposite of what the BBI is intended to achieve. Some netizens insisted the error was deliberately made whilst others slammed the commission for openly showing bias.
Hours after the costly typo, the commission, through the same Twitter handle, has this afternoon issued an official statement in response to the issue, stating that although there was an error in their earlier tweet, it does not in any way reflect the position of the commission nor its staff. "The Commission sincerely apologizes to all its stakeholders and the General Public," read the last part of the tweet. It is no secret that the Building Bridges Initiative is being rammed down Kenyans’ throats.
The honest truth is, no one asked for it, and no one needs it.
The BBI is widely viewed as a wicked plan by the elite to create more political seats for the ruling class at the expense of ordinary Kenyans.
The process culminating in a referendum is super expensive for a country broke and in debt, and even worse, the running cost of sustaining the proposed government structure will only add to the financial burden if the BBI goes through.
It is, therefore, no wonder that even a section of those working at the body that will conduct the referendum exercise are ‘secretly’ against it.