President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader have officially received the Building Bridges Initiative report, which builds on the preliminary report launched last year. Speaking after receiving the report at the Kisii state lodge, President Kenyatta said the report will be launched on Monday at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, and called for its wide circulation prior to that day.
He said the report isn’t about him and Raila, or the Presidency pitted against the Prime Minister position, but one that addresses many issues facing Kenyans. “We want this to be a national dialogue,” he said, adding that people shouldn’t read it with their political agenda, “I’m encouraging each one of us to read and make your contributions with a view of making it even better.” He said Kenya has had its fair share of problems arising from the winner takes all mentality, “We want every Kenyan, every single day of the year to be comfortable and confident that you have through the Constitution, a document that protects you and gives you a chance.”
He also urged Kenyans not to politicize the report, and asked leaders to show leadership, “This is not the time to create divisions, it’s the time for each and everyone of us to show leadership, it’s time to bring the country together.”
On his part, ODM leader Raila Odinga lauded the availing of the report. He said the report will be taken to Kenyans who’ll give their views on it, after at least 24 County assemblies have ratified it and enough signatures have been collected and presented to IEBC. The former Prime Minister took a swipe at Deputy President William Ruto, who wasn’t present at the hand over, faulting his ‘hustler’ narrative, “When you say you want to listen to the lowly in society, and start handing then wheelbarrows, cart wheels…where have you been all this time?” he posed, “They haven’t fallen from the sky.”
