BBI report should do more to enhance peaceful polls

Proponents of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) have touted the report as the panacea for peace and an end to political and election-related violence in Kenya. However, reviewing how the report has understood and responded to previous violence casts doubt on the veracity of these assertions.

Neither the 2020 report nor the 2019 draft mentions or analyses the causes and consequences of the previous violence. On pages 4-5, the report refers to Ethnic Antagonism and Competition as a ‘major threat to Kenya’s success’. It then proffers two solutions: inclusion of national unity, character, and cohesion in the school curriculum, and criminalisation of hate speech and use of violence before and after elections.