Jubilee MPs allied to Deputy President William Ruto have convened a meeting next week to frame out a raft of issues they want incorporated in the final BBI report.
The legislators drawn from across the country are expected in Naivasha for a two-day meeting starting Sunday to build consensus on their proposals to be submitted to the Building Bridges Initiative task force.
As of Thursday, 123 MPs from Mt Kenya, the Rift Valley, Western, South Nyanza, Northeastern, Eastern and the Coast region had registered to attend.
On Thursday, Ruto told NTV that he will also present his proposals before the BBI task force.
Soy MP Caleb Kositany, one of the organisers of the retreat, said other than agreeing on the “BBI sensitisation rallies schedule”, they will also come up with a memorandum to be presented to the task force.
“The retreat will bring all the Jubilee leaders from across the country and some of our other friends. The agenda is for us to agree on a harmonised memorandum capturing issues from our constituents,” he said.
“Remember all the regions met when the report was out and took a common position. Now that another round of hearings is here with us, we need to know how to approach it,” Kositany told the Star on the phone.
Pokot South MP David Pkosing said ODM has concentrated so much on the expansion of the Executive and not on issues affecting Kenyans.
“We are faced with terrorist attacks, we have issues to do with the economy such as tea, maize, coffee and livestock farming, which we want to see addressed in the BBI report,” he said.
The meeting has been informed by reports that President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are keen on sponsoring sweeping proposals to the BBI team aimed at whittling down the Office of the President.
The plan, the DP’s allies argue, would be to make sure that in case Ruto wins the presidency in 2022, he would be occupying an office with scaled-down powers and influence.
They claim that Uhuru and Raila’s gameplan is to accumulate more executive power on a powerful prime minister, with a scheme to protect the interests of “the dynasties”.
The President’s camp is also seeking to neutralise the powers of the President to fire the PM as recommended by the BBI team in favour of a powerful PM, who does not serve at the whims of the head of state.