A stormy battle is brewing between the Deputy President William Ruto and Opposition chief Raila Odinga over the next route for BBI recommendations.
The two leaders and their camps are sharply divided whether to go the referendum to anchor the recommendations in the law or to go the parliamentary way to initiate the recommendations. Ruto is considering the parliamentary way while Odinga is a diehard proponent of the referendum route.
This has opened another battle front for the two camps after the BBI report was released on Tuesday at the Bomas of Kenya.
Ruto foot soldiers prefer the parliamentary route which they argue will be smooth and cheap unlike the public vote which they claim will be divisive and costly. Odinga’s camp has insisted that the process must be people driven.
While opening new ODM Party Head quarters in Lavington on Thursday the former Prime Minister said that the process must be owned by the people and not taken to parliament. He also made clear during the launch that he will go for nothing short of a plebiscite.
The contradiction between the two leaders was right before the eyes of President Uhuru Kenyatta during the launch of the report.
Raila complained that parliamentary route will ‘short change‘the people as Mps will put their selfish and political interests and shelve the people.
His position received the backing of more than 25 Mps but Ruto seems to be enjoying a considerable size of support in parliament compared to Odinga. The lawmakers supporting Odinga are drawn from ODM, Jubilee, Wiper, KANU and ANC.
The DP further asserted that he considers the parliamentary route because it will lower the political temperatures.
