Editor's Review

The ODM Party has issued an appeal to its members over the BBI bill after the National Assembly was called upon to hold to special sittings to deliberate on the document.

The ODM Party has urged its Members of Parliament to endorse the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020 also known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) bill in its entirety.

The rallying call comes a day after National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi called for two special sittings to be held on April 28 and April 29, 2021, to deliberate the report.

"I called you here to make clear the position of the party on the BBI bill and to advise all our MPs to properly align themselves accordingly. It is the party's position that parliament should pass the BBI bill as it is in its entirety.

"This is therefore a rallying call to our members to align themselves accordingly with the party position," a statement by the party issued on April 27, read in part.

"It is also an appeal to our members and supporters out there to prepare to vote for the bill once it is presented to them in the referendum," the party urged.

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ODM argued that the document has too many benefits to the ordinary people to throw away.

The opposition party maintained that its push for more money to the County Governments is not worth throwing away.

ODM stated that the report outlines how to effectively curb corruption in the country, urging MPs to support the bill.

The party maintained that they have always advocated for equitable sharing of resources, noting that it is adeptly explained in the BBI.

"The BBI bill has some very solid proposals on how to help our youth and turn them into innovators and entrepreneurs, how to make them creators and not seekers of jobs, and how to make them self-reliant.

"We do not want to lose those gains," the party said.

The party appealed to handshake partners ODM Leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta to continue giving hope to Kenyans.

This comes after it emerged that the ODM camp is split over the bill.

Three law makers who were members of the Joint parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs Committee appended their signatures for a report that declared some of the provisions in the BBI as unconstitutional. 

The BBI train has faced serious threats, including revelations that there are three formats of the report and a majority of the counties, 34, debated and passed the wrong format.