President Uhuru Kenyatta has officially launched the much awaited Building Bridges Initiative at the Bomas of Kenya, paving the way for Kenyans to to read the report and build conversations on the recommendations. The report was handed to the President and Raila Odinga on Tuesday, and it was based on nine issues; national ethos, responsibilities and rights, ethnic antagonism and competition, inclusivity, shared prosperity, safety ad security, devolution, corruption, divisive elections and commissions and cross cutting issues.
On national ethos, the report states that the country has lost direction because the laws and cultural ethics have been lost. The culture and history of Kenya has been forgotten and Kenyans should be comfortable being Africans. As a result, it has been proposed that 26th December should be renamed to national Culture Day. There was also a proposal for a deepened focus on Ethics, thus establish an Ethics Commission apart form the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
On responsibilities and rights, it was noted that many Kenyans are focused on their rights but not responsibilities. And as a result, sustained civic education on responsibilities, rights should be set up. Moreover, it has also been proposed that an inter-ministerial task force dealing with parenting should be set up, and not just at the government level but cultural and religious institutions must be involved.
On revenue collection, businesses and savings, the BBI team recommended that a saving culture should be encouraged in Kenya and protection of inventions, traditional knowledge that feeds who Kenyans are. Moreover, a law should be in place to encourage leaders to spend more on development and less on recurrent expenditure, with only a proposed 30% spent on recurrent expenditure and 70% on development. It has also been recommended that the tax base should be broadened and tax incentives should be provided for youth based businesses.
On corruption, Kenyans have said the war on graft is ineffective, and the team has recommended that incentives be given to whistleblowers, with 5% of proceeds of corruption given to the whistleblowers. The report also noted some people may be difficult to prosecute like lawyers and judges, and it has been recommended that anti-corruption sting campaigns should be conducted. To destroy cartels, it has been concluded that intelligence -led evidence should be used to prosecute the cartels. For public officers, it’s been proposed that they shouldn’t do business with the government. Wealth declaration forms should be made public and leaders should assume political responsibility and resign for negligence and poor action that leads to disasters, doing away with the notion of refusing to resign. 100% digitization of government services should be realized also, and public confidence of the judiciary should be enhanced. It’s also been proposed that the office of the controller of budget should be strengthened.
On devolution, it was noted that Kenyans are happy with devolution but implementation is still a problem. The team has recommended that all 47 Counties be retained and they can continue forming regional economic blocs. It’s been proposed that the allocation to Counties should be increased to at least 35%. The issue of leadership and gender in the Counties has been addressed, with the proposal that if the Governor is a man, the Deputy should be a lady and vice versa. On the appointment of Deputy Governors, the law compels the Governor to appoint a Deputy within a period of 90 days of the vacancy, failure to do so will prompt the Speaker of the respective County assembly in view to nominate one and with the approval of the assembly, a DG will be appointed. County assemblies should also have control over their budgets and more funds should be allocated to the wards for development.
On safety and security, Kenyans said they don’t feel safe. The BBI team has recommended that citizens should be involved in policing services, the President must develop a comprehensive national security strategy to be reviewed every two years and when a new President is elected he should have his or her own national security strategy within the first thee months. The capacity of the NPS should be boosted so that the wellness of police officer is dealt with, including their mental health. The team proposed also that Gender Based Violence should be dealt with.
On politics and elections, the team has recommended that the winner-takes-all system be abolished, and that a non-paid elders’ council of advisers should be in place to give advice to the President. Political parties should be institutionalized and a substantive registrar of political parties should be appointed. The team has recommended that an executive President as the Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces should remain, but in addition there should be a Prime Minister, who will be a Member of Parliament, who will be the leader of government business in the national Assembly and supervisor of government affairs. The team has also recommended that there should be a mixed cabinet composed of politicians and technocrats but as soon as they are appointed they become ex-officio members of parliament. Furthermore, the team proposed the official recognition of the position of leader of opposition. Parties should also meet the two-thirds gender requirement and that all the 290 constituencies should remain.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has also been highlighted, with one recommendation stating that a new IEBC team should be in place before 2022 elections. All IEBC staff should work for three years on renewable contracts, and that the IEBC chair should be an executive chairman to avoid the power shifts between the chairman and CEO. It has also recommended that the requirement that the chairman must be a lawyer be scrapped off.