A committee of registered political parties, the electoral agency and the office of the Registrar of Political Parties is set to launch a major countrywide Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report sensitisation drive.
The committee, Parties Liaison Committee (PLC), will roll-out the series of sensitisation to its members based the counties in April with the drive set to be coordinated by office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP).
BBI REPORT
The sensitisation will be carried out by the committee’s six sub-committee which have been apportioned specific thematic areas highlighted in the BBI report.
The areas allocated to respective committees are on; rights and inclusivity; divisive elections; national ethos and ethnicity; corruption; shared prosperity and devolution and security and safety.
The sub-committees will be apportioned a region, out of the eight that have been clustered mirroring that of ORPP’s criteria, with ORPP’s officers at the county level enlisted to help coordinate the exercise.
“The forums will also be an avenue for sourcing input to inform a memorandum to the BBI team that political parties will re-submit later in the year,” said chair of political parties’ Steering Committee Mr Irungu Nyakera.
DIALOGUE
Mr Nyakera added that the programme is also critical in the quest for political parties’ involvement in the current national discourse as well as being part of measures of revitalising political parties dialogue at the county level.
The committee convened at Machakos in the week to interrogate in depth chapter by chapter the BBI report. The meeting will eventually inform the sensitisation as well as the committee’s comprehensive memorandum to the BBI team.
Prior to this week’s meeting, the political parties presented to BBI taskforce on February 14 the preliminary highlights of their matters for consideration.
POLICY FRAMEWORK
“As ORPP, it is our firm belief to support political parties to be involved in discussing and shaping matters of national interest especially those that have political ramifications like the BBI and other initiatives for the good of the Kenyan people,” said Registrar Ann Nderitu.
Ms Nderitu urged the committee to put all measures necessary in good time ahead of the general elections.
“The legislative and policy framework such as party primaries Draft Bill which has incorporated critical suggestions received from political parties is on course. The political parties need to ensure that issues such as party elections, maintenance of clean and accurate data and all compliance matters are addressed,” she implored.
The Parties Liaison Committee is a dialogue platform established at both national and county levels comprising of the ORPP, IEBC and fully registered political parties as per article 38 of the Political Parties Act.