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Religious and political leaders have called on Kenyans to read and understand the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report to make informed decisions on whether to give it a nod or reject it.

Led by the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) Archbishop Julius Njoroge, they have further noted the need for sensitization to the elderly and illiterate persons who cannot understand the contents of the document.

Speaking in Gatundu South, Kiambu County during the burial ceremony for the late Archdeacon John Waikwa, Njoroge said that Kenyans across all political divides should endeavour to peruse all chapters in the proposed document and make their own well-versed decisions.
 
He noted that the AIPCA church cannot impose a direction on its members and called on them to read and decide the path they would love to take independently.
 
The priest, however, called on AIPCA church followers to sensitize and educate the elderly who don’t understand the document.

Speaking separately, Thika Patrick Wainaina noted that the contentious one man, one vote one shilling formula for Counties Revenue sharing has been addressed in the BBI.

Wainaina said BBI has proposed additional parliamentary representation for regions with more people which, if enacted, will come with more finances trickling down to constituencies.

He said that while the new revenue sharing formula, as earlier proposed, failed to pass at the senate, the proposals in the BBI will see the populous Mount Kenya region make more gains in terms of representation and monetary allocations.

“In Mount Kenya, every resident gets an average of Sh 4,000 while in places such as Lamu, locals get over Sh 20,000. The formula that would have resolved the contention failed to pass at the senate but is now incorporated in the BBI proposals. We need to seek a paradigm shift in low allocations for certain regions through the BBI,” he said.

In the BBI proposals, Kiambu County is likely to get six new MPs who will be allocated similar GN-CDF translating to additional more than Sh 800,000 trickling in the vast county.

Wainaina said that the money will not only help improve infrastructure but will also see an increase in bursary allocations given to learners in the county.

“The Sh 13 billion we have been receiving as a county could be increased up to Sh 40 billion which is able to spur our economic developments. People need to read the document and reject malicious interpretations,” he said.

He reiterated that passing the BBI will not translate into Kenyans being dictated on which president to elect as alleged by a section of leaders.

Meanwhile, Njoroge has put on notice priests under his church who are taking alcohol saying he has received numerous reports of some pastors who have been extremely getting drunk against the church’s doctrines.