Politicians are masters of hyperbole. They promise many things we know they will never deliver majority of them even in two lifetimes but we always tend to believe them for some reason.
The Orange Democratic Movement’s Secretary General Edwin Sifuna was so sure that Third Way Alliance’s quest to push for a constitutional review to reduce the burden of cost of governance to the taxpayers would flop that he bet his political career on it.
The Ekuru Aukot-led party, through their ‘Punguza Mzigo’ initiative set out to collect at least 1 million signatures of registered voters in compliance with article 257 of the Constitution that sets out the procedure of amending the country’s supreme law through a popular initiative.
“I want to say in front of this country, if Third Way Alliance are able to raise one million signatures, I will resign as the Secretary General of ODM. I know for a fact they can’t do it. This is what I am telling you, people know where to look for leadership,” he said during an interview on KBC TV’s Good Morning Kenya show.
When the host promised to hold him accountable for his words, Sifuna doubled down; “This is something that I know. I am saying it on national TV, I know who they are, I know who they are not…”
Well, the Ekuru Aukot-led party’s initiative did manage to get the million signatures.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Thursday announced they had verified that the ‘Punguza Mizigo’ Initiative that’s pushing for a constitutional amendment have met the required threshold of at least one million signatures.
The commission stated that the initiative was supported by a total of 1,222,541 registered voters.
IEBC further stated that the Aukot-led party delivered to the commission a draft Constitutional Amendment Bill and details of supporters of the draft Bill both in soft and hard copy on February 28, 2019.
The draft Bill will now be submitted to each of the 47 County Assemblies for consideration within 3 months from the date of submission by the commission.
So, what does Mr. Sifuna have to say about it, exactly what you expected. He tweeted on Friday morning; “It wasn’t me. I was misquoted. I don’t recall. I said re-sign not resign. I would rather die. I’ve never been on KBC. I don’t know who Third Way are Take your pick! This is a WIND ASSISTED and pyrhic “victory” but all the best to @EAukot @fokango and their #PunguzaMizigoBill2019.”