Eric Wainaina @EWainaina

President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga yesterday heightened their mission to quell simmering rebellion over the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report, by reaching out to leaders from the pastoralist communities who had raised reservations about the project.

 Raila held a meeting with a section of Cabinet Secretaries (CS), governors, MPs and Ward Reps from pastoralist communities at Serena Hotel, Nairobi, where he received a raft of proposals, which the leaders want accommodated in the document.

 The former Prime Minister and a co-principal in the BBI campaign,  held a fourth meeting with the leaders led by CSs Ukur Yatani (Treasury) and John Munyes (Petroleum), where the issues were outlined, and in a subsequent press briefing, promised to have them addressed.

 The issues include revenue allocation, extension of Equalisation Fund lifespan, representation, creation of a Livestock Marketing Authority, community land protection, making the Senate the Upper House, among others.    

 “This is the fourth meeting we have been having with them and there is quite an agreement over many issues here.

The issues that they have raised include Livestock Marketing Authority; as you know livestock is the mainstay economy of this region,” Raila told reporters.

 He added: “We have said those issues can and will be taken on board and they have appointed three representatives, who will sit down with the technical team to iron out the issues.”

 This was a change of tune from the Naivasha meeting with lawmakers from the two Houses when it was decided that the report would not be amended or dialogued as a section of leaders, mainly those allied to Deputy President William Ruto, had demanded.

Irreducible minimums

Yesterday’s meeting was attended by Mandera Governor Ali Roba, Ali Korane (Garissa), Senate Majority Leader Samuel Poghisio, his deputy Fatuma Dullo, deputy Majority Whip Farhiya Ali, Senators Ledama ole Kina (Narok), Abdi Bule (Tana River), Mohamed Mohamud (Mandera) and Ali Abdullahi, Eldas MP Adan Keynan, Samburu North’s Alois Lentoimanga and Naisula Lesuuda (Samburu East) and Fatuma Ali Ibrahim (East Africa Legislative Assembly).

Former National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, who is among leaders who have expressed reservations about the report, welcomed Raila’s initiative to listen to the pastoralists’ grievances.

“We have raised our irreducible minimums which we want incorporated in the report.

If all the issues are put in BBI, we are home and dry. We will support it and even tell other people to support it,” Duale said.

 Ruto, who has insisted on inclusivity in the process, also welcomed Raila’s pledge to have the issues raised by the pastoralists addressed in the report.

 “ The public commitment to amend BBI to include these proposals is a welcome step towards consensus.

With this and other petitions accepted, a non- contested discourse is in the horizon,” Ruto said. 

 Yatani, Roba, Lentoimanga, Poghisio, Dullo and Keynan, who spoke on behalf of the leaders, said the meeting had resolved to support the BBI report.

 “As leaders of this region, we want to confirm that we have a big stake in the current constitutional discourse that is ongoing and we have resolved to support BBI in totality,” Yatani said.

 Yesterday’s meeting came days after opposing factions from the pastoralist communities clashed over the region’s support for the BBI process.

It also comes ahead of today’s meeting between governors, the President and Raila to discuss the report. The meeting will take place at Enashipai Spa and Lodge in Naivasha, Nakuru county.

 Keynan said all the issues raised by the leaders from the pastoralist communities had been compiled and presented to Raila for inclusion in the report, adding that they had “unanimously” agreed to support the BBI process.