Raila: Be ready for BBI vote next year

Contentious issues arising from the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report will be subjected to another round of public validation through a referendum.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga yesterday told Kenyans to be prepared for such a vote come next year.

"We have given Kenyans ample time to read and reread the document and identity issues contained in the report they want amended," said Raila.

The BBI report as currently constructed is not yet a final document, he said.

Kakamega Governor and ODM deputy party leader Wycliffe Oparanya said they were mapping out strategies for civic campaigns on BBI due early next year.

Speaking during the burial of Frederick Omondi, father-in-law of Jaoko Oburu, son of East Africa Legislative Assembly MP and Raila's elder brother Oburu Odinga at Awelo Primary School in Siaya County yesterday, the governor said Kenyans will come up with a rational document that will take care of the interests of the common man.

The idea behind citizen engagement, according to the ODM leader, is that they should have significant powers over key decisions that affect their lives.

"Constitution-making is a people-led process across the world and so the interest of the common man will not be over-looked even as BBI team prepare for the second round of deliberations on the best way forward to implement the nine issues identified as problems ailing Kenya and suggested remedies thereto," said the former prime minister.

The BBI report, a product of the March 9 handshake between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta, proposed an increase of 35 per cent share of the national revenue allocation to the counties to boost services at the grassroots.