ODM leader Raila Odinga’s Nyanza backyard is leading the referendum signature collection drive, with about 4.6 million people signing up countrywide.
The total number could be higher as the 4.6m figure was tallied on Wednesday. The signature collection is expected to end Friday.
BBI secretariat team headed by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed and former Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru will verify the signatures and forward them to the electoral agency.
Nyanza counties Kisumu, Siaya, Kisii, Nyamira, Homa Bay and Migori have generated 780,427 signatures in five days.
According to the document seen by the Star, Nyanza is followed by Eastern region which had netted 762,776 signatures two days before the end of the nationwide exercise.
Deputy President William Ruto’s Rift Valley has had 667,731 people appending their signatures to approve the law change process.
Ruto has adopted a hard-line stance on the document, insisting more must be done to achieve a non-contested referendum.
The DP is the only high ranking national leader who has yet to publicly append his signature on the document.
He snubbed the signature collection launch last month and has also come up with tough conditions on the referendum.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Central bastion has emerged fourth nationally with 643,880 people signing to approve the plebiscite.
The BBI signature drive has also obtained 608,578 signatures from Coast. Western region has collected 525,323 signatures while Nairobi has raised 461,934 approvals.
The drive that was launched last month has not performed well in Northeastern, where a paltry 135,091 signatures have been collected.
According to the report, 42,423 signatures have been collected through the online app.
In Nyanza, Kisumu county tops the list with 177,832 signatories, Homa Bay emerged second with 174,603, followed by Siaya (156,323), Kisii (116,112), Migori (94,872) and Nyamira (60,379).
In Central, Kiambu leads with 181,744 followed by Murang’a (166,390), Kirinyaga (116,513) and Nyeri (78,932).
On Thursday, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka said Ruto’s demands on the Building Bridges Initiative process are unrealistic and have come too late in the day.
In a televised media briefing on Wednesday, DP Ruto demanded amongst others the referendum be held alongside the 2022 General Election and that the Bill be opened for review.
He also insisted on a multiple-choice referendum instead of the usual single-question plebiscite.
Kalonzo told Ruto to either back the entire document or lead the No side.
“Some of our fellow citizens are saying you vote clause by clause as if we had not had a referendum before. You have to vote Yes or No for the whole document,” Kalonzo said.
Kalonzo spoke when he received signatures from Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties.
Machakos topped in the Lower Eastern region with 220,000 signatures, followed by Makueni (130,000) and Kitui (100,000)
Nairobi BBI coordinator and Makadara MP George Aladwa said they had hit 521,000 signatures, adding the huge endorsement signals how the capital will vote during the referendum.
“As Nairobi leaders, we are grateful to our people who came out to sign the booklets. This is an indication that Nairobi is for BBI and will approve the referendum when the time comes, ” Aladwa said after a meeting of Nairobi elected leaders.
Wajir South leaders Thursday heightened their push get extra seats from the 70 proposed in the document.
“We are asking for Wajir South to be split into three constituencies, not two,” Wajir South MP Mohamud Sheikh.
Former Wajir Senator Abdirahman Hassan said they are disappointed by the distribution of the new constituencies.
“We are a bit disappointed in the manner in which the 70 (Parliamentary) seats have been distributed across the country. Wajir South merits additional constituency; in terms of population it has over 300,000 people and in terms of land mass it is 23,000 kilometer-square, which is equivalent to the size of Nairobi and Western combined,” Hassan said.