Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga now says a proposal by President William Ruto to amend the 2010 Constitution and introduce the office of the official leader of the opposition is puzzling.

In a statement on Sunday, December 11, the ODM party leader said Ruto’s recent memorandum to the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Senate seeks to re-introduce some of the proposals that were in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report, that the President strongly opposed in the run-up to the August general election.

“I find it puzzling because the memorandum presents these proposals without any recognition of the fact that the BBI reports, which are official government documents, contain all these proposals coupled with the rationale why these suggestions had been found to be necessary by the people of Kenya who participated in the process,” Raila said.

“Instead, Mr. Ruto has appropriated the views of these people and speaks of the proposals as his own,” he added.

Raila claimed that the change of tune by the Head of State was proof that he was not honest when he opposed the proposal to amend the constitution through the BBI, a product of the handshake between the former Prime Minister and retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.

He alleged that Ruto had flouted his own demands on the threshold for amending the constitution including his stand that a president cannot initiate constitutional amendment; all proposals for amendments of the Constitution must start with the people; the process of amendment must be people driven; and that the amendments must chiefly centre on the interests of the common mwananchi.

“Had Mr. Ruto been honest about the BBI proposals, everything he has suggested in his memorandum would be law today,” Raila added.

He said Ruto must comply with the same imperatives before any of the proposed changes can be effected.

“I will not be hypocritical about his memorandum as far as the content of the proposals is concerned because these are in truth BBI proposals. However, they cannot be presented as he has done neither can they be processed through the procedure that he is prescribing. He must comply with the same imperatives that he demanded of the BBI process,” Raila stated.

Further, Raila vowed to continue with his planned rallies across the country to protest against alleged injustices by the Kenya Kwanza administration after returning from the United States, where he is attending a US-Africa summit.

“On return from the US, we will continue consultations with the leadership of Azimio, the legal team and the people of Kenya to agree on how to deal with this about-turn by Mr. Ruto, on top of the resolutions passed at our December 7, Kamukunji forum.”

In a memorandum dated December 9, 2022, Ruto asked the two Houses to spearhead the process to amend the constitution to introduce the office of the official opposition leader to cure what he said was a constitutional shortfall on the full post-election fate of the minority side.

The President said the office would institutionalise governance, strengthen oversight and deepen democracy in the country.

Further, Ruto asked Parliament to amend House standing orders to enhance oversight of the Executive. The President wants Cabinet Secretaries and Chief Administrative Secretaries allowed to participate in Parliamentary proceedings, and enable them respond to questions from members.

The President also asked the two Houses to initiate amendments to the constitution, to establish a formula that will guide the computation of the gender ratio in the National Assembly.

According to Ruto, the changes would resolve the long-standing stalemate on the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule.

Notably, the proposal to introduce the office of the official leader of the opposition was part of the recommendations in the failed BBI Bill, 2020 that was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in March.

Five out of seven judges of the Supreme Court ruled that the President could not lead a popular initiative to amend the Constitution.

The judges observed that a popular initiative was a preserve of the ordinary citizens, popularly known as ‘Wanjiku’.

“Consequently, under Article 257 of the constitution, the Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2020 is unconstitutional, ” Chief Justice Martha Koome said, dealing BBI a death blow.