Garissa Township MP Aden Duale has said that residents of North Eastern region would only support the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) reform agenda if it captured their interests.
Speaking Saturday in Garissa during the handing over of a van to Asha Binti Abibakar Islamic school, Duale said that the region just like the rest of the country had a fair share of challenges that must be captured in the document.
Duale who is the patron of the North Eastern Parliamentary Group said that the residents were keenly following the BBI debate and were eager to know the contents contained in the final report before they make their stand known.
“I want to be very clear. I have been very consistent on this, that we will only support any reform agenda that takes into consideration the interest of the Islamic religion and our region. It’s as simple as that,” Duale said.
“We will not be passengers in somebody else’s vehicle. When you are on the driving seat you must at same time also give me a chance to also drive after which another person will also take the driving seat of this vehicle called Kenya,” he added.
Last week, ODM party leader Raila Odinga revealed that the long-awaited BBI report could be released in days.
In an exclusive interview at his Upper Hill office on Friday last week, Raila said he and President Uhuru Kenyatta were exploring ways of releasing the much-delayed final report in a few days.
According to insiders, the release may coincide with 10th anniversary of the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution which is Thursday September 27.
The final report by Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji’s led team has been ready for past two months.
On the issue of the Chief Justice advising the President to dissolve Parliament because it has “blatantly failed, refused and/or neglected” to enact legislation required to implement the two-thirds gender rule, Duale said that Maraga cannot force Kenyans to elect women when they don’t want.
“In my view, the dissolution of Parliament will not in any way solve the problem at hand,” Duale noted.
“If anything, it may even worsen the situation. The issue of electing leaders whether men of women squarely lies with the people,” he noted.
During his helm as the Majority Leader, Duale tried to have the bill passed without much success.
By Jacob Songok
