Signatures collection for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) in Nyeri continues to gain momentum as more leaders continue to endorse it and rally their supporters to sign.
Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina on Sunday led a host of his supporters in appending their signatures in the company of ICT CS Joe Mucheru who also said he had already done his bit online.
The two leaders said the BBI born out of the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga spelt good fortunes for the country in terms of development and ending divisive elections.
CS Mucheru said the peace and tranquility the country was enjoying at the moment was as a result of the handshake and the BBI was there to ensure the same continues into the future.
“There is no reason he (President) does not want that peace to continue and that is why he agreed to get us this BBI so that Kenya will be a peaceful place,” noted CS Mucheru.
He said with peace, the country was poised to see a lot of development and growth, noting that was one of his reasons for supporting the BBI.
His sentiments were echoed by Senator Maina who said the peace we have in the country should not be taken for granted, as the country had severally slipped into chaos on account of politics and we would not want a repeat of the same.
“We remember the 2007 incident and BBI is supposed to try and bring a system that will cure that,” the Senator said.
The CS continued to say that the welfare of the youth was also well captured in the document, with a view of trying to sort out their concerns especially on unemployment.
“BBI has proposed that we will have a Youth Commission and given that 75.1 percent of the population is composed of the youth, we must look into their welfare,” Mucheru said.
He at the same time called on Kenyans to take their time and go through the document that had also been availed in the digital format, so that they can be able to make an informed decision on whether to support or reject it.
Senator Maina added that the BBI also had good recommendations on how to tackle the “ghost of corruption” that had plagued the nation for many years.
“This BBI has also said cases of corruption will have a time limit contrary to the circus going on currently, where cases drag forever until they are forgotten,” Maina said.
Though the original document proposed one year, Maina said the period should be shortened to around six months,” said the Senator.
By Samuel Waititu/Beth Nirangu
