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Noah Cheploen @cheploennoah

The countrywide Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) rallies are expected to reach the penultimate stage on Saturday with Nakuru, a place often considered the melting pot of Kenya’s politics, set to play host. 

The rally, to be held at Afraha Stadium, comes in the wake of heightened political activities in the country and widening cracks in the ruling Jubilee Party with bitter confrontations emerging between two opposing camps.

Tanga Tanga faction allied to Deputy President William Ruto is accusing its  Kieleweke counterparts— backed by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga— of using the BBI process to settle political scores. 

According to Ruto, politicians have hijacked the BBI and are now pushing their selfish agenda, therefore, locking out views from ordinary citizens.

Raila has dismissed these claims, saying the views being presented in the rallies originate from the grassroots.  

Outspoken Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina has maintained that BBI should address historical land injustices in the region, noting that the Maasai community has ‘suffered for too long’ and should be allowed to graze their animals freely. 

Remarks made by politicians over the BBI have put Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui— the host of Saturday’s meeting— in a catch 22 situation especially considering that he heads one of the most multiethnic counties in the country. 

Focus on content

Governor Kinyanjui has been forced by prevailing circumstances to strike a delicate balancing act with competing interests and 2022 politics reaching a crescendo. His statements have been measured and well calculated. 

A keen BBI supporter, the governor last week urged Kenyans to keep their eyes on the ball by ignoring politicians who are using BBI forums to spew hate and other inciting statements. 

Noting that BBI presents an opportunity for the people to say how they want to be governed, Kinyanjui said Kenyans should support the BBI project, borne out of the March 9, 2018 Handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then bitter rival Raila Odinga. 

“If you go to the market and see a mad man, will you stop buying the items you wanted to buy? Let us not focus on the mad man, let us focus on the content, the real issues,” said Kinyanjui.

He added: “There is a mad man in every market but I plead with you especially my colleagues from the Rift Valley let this exercise not pass by without our input because if you want to talk about bringing people together, then the region that brings Kenyans together is Rift Valley.”

Afraha Stadium is key in many political forums. It was there that the political deal between President Uhuru Kenyatta’s The National Alliance (TNA) and Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP) was announced in 2012. 

During the BBI rally in Narok and days preceding it, Ole Kina stirred the hornets’ nest,  saying that outsiders should stay out of leadership positions in the area, adding that all land in Narok and Kajiado counties belongs to the native Maasai community. 

But in a quick rejoinder, Governor Kinyanjui described the senator as “a very small man” who has no say in the country’s politics. 

“The people of Nakuru know the value of peace because of past events like the 2007/08 post-election violence,” he said. 

“Those inciting Kenyans now were not there. They were abroad studying and some are even holding dual citizenship and if things go wrong they will be in the next plane out of the country,” the governor said.

Enjoy proceeds

He said that plans for Nakuru BBI rally are at an advanced stage, adding that he had already made a raft of proposals that he will present to the BBI taskforce in the coming days.

“You know I talk to all the players openly and on this BBI I will be at the forefront,” he said. 

The county boss said one of the proposals he will be presenting to the taskforce is to ensure that Nakuru residents enjoy the proceeds accruing from Lake Nakuru National Park and other natural resources within his jurisdiction. 

“Sometimes in referendums the propaganda overtakes the actual content and if we’re not careful we are going to lose a lot,” he said.

“In Nakuru, the per capita per person is 5,700 but in other counties it is as high as 18,000 per person. So my question is, do we focus on the real content or sideshows?” he asked.