Duale signals his support for the BBI

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Former National Assembly Majority leader and Garissa Township MP Aden Duale has signalled his support for the BBI noting that with a few more amendments it will be good.

Duale and other leaders allied to the Deputy President William Ruto have been consistent on their demands of a further amendment to the document.

Speaking at his residence in Garissa, Duale said that if a majority of the contentious issues that they had raised were removed in the amended draft then there is a window to make a few more amendments.

“Most of the issues among them formation of a police council, the appointment of IEBC commissioners by political parties have since been struck out,” Duale said.

Duale, however, questioned how the three counties of Mandera, Wajir and Garissa in northeastern were only given one constituency given the landmass with Mandera getting an extra constituency but ijara and Wajir south were not lucky.

“We still demand two additional constituencies in the 70 additional ones as proposed in the BBI report. Otherwise, as it stands we feel shortchanged as residents of Northeastern,”  Duale said.

He said they managed to have the senate power that had been watered down by the first document strengthened.

Last week the Deputy President held a meeting at his Karen residence with MPs and Governors allied to him where he maintained on the need to build a consensus BBI report to avoid a divisive referendum.

The legislators suggested that the BBI referendum should be pushed to 2022. They said the current resources earmarked for BBI activities should be directed to Covid-19 mitigation measures and supporting the recovery of micro and small enterprises.

Last week while receiving BBI signatures booklets in Garissa town, Garissa Governor Ali Korane said they will continue supporting the BBI as they push for the creation of two additional constituencies.

Korane said that it would not paint a good picture to turn their back on senator Yussuf Haji whom they have supported all along after he was appointed the chair of the BBI taskforce.

On Thursday last week, professionals and leaders from Ijara threatened to treck from Masalani to the statehouse to present their memorandum to president Uhuru Kenyatta to have the constituency split into two.

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