Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga yesterday maintained that the push for constitutional reforms under the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) remain on course and would “soon resume”.

Speaking in Nairobi, the Opposition leader, who has been spearheading the push for constitutional reforms under the BBI process alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta said the initiative “has only gone for half time,” a short break in soccer parlance.

Raila who had attended the funeral of David Kamau Waweru, the father of the President of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) Richard Ngatia expressed optimism that the appeals lodged against the High Court ruling that declared the BBI bill unconstitutional will succeed to enable the journey towards amending the constitution before next year’s elections to resume.

“Today I don’t want to talk about the BBI because the issue is in court and it’s the court which has taken reggae (the reform process) on a holiday.

The court (ruling) has taken BBI on half time but the reggae will resume because nobody can stop reggae,” Raila said, noting that the process was meant to address key issues affecting Kenyans.

Raila was accompanied by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, his Senate counterpart Kenneth Lusaka, Amani National Congress boss Musalia Mudavadi, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, Baringo Senator Gideon Moi and Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi.

Five judges in a landmark ruling last month, observed that Uhuru and Raila, through their BBI project, had no authority to tinker with the Constitution. 

Court of Appeal President Daniel Musinga has already  appointed seven judges who will hear and determine the appeal against the ruling.

Mudavadi decried the high taxation measures proposed by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani at a time the Covid-19 pandemic had killed many businesses and affected the country’s economy, adding that the government must find ways to address it.

“There is a lot of work that must be done, business people are overtaxed, and they can’t breathe. Businesses have gone down due to Covid and poverty is kicking in,” he said.