Engage dissenting voices to popularise BBI in Mt Kenya

 

The decision to unleash public servants to turn around the rhetoric on the Building Bridges Initiative in Mt Kenya region has come a bit late.

The 'give and take' method of persuasion has been overtaken by prevailing circumstances.

Already, the BBI document has been punctured on the ground by the blunders of the very same people who were supposed to popularise it. They made the errors either through commission or omission.

If the meeting held by senior government technocrats from Mt Kenya region at a hotel in Nairobi happened just after the launch of the document, there would have been a lot of difference.

It means copies of the BBI Bill would have been sent to the grassroots much earlier coupled with the requisite civic education. Perhaps then, the people in Mt Kenya would have understood it and been persuaded.

But as it is, those against the document in Mt Kenya region have beaten the proponents of the constitution amendment by taking advantage of the weaknesses surrounding its popularisation and subsequently creating a very negative image about it.

The raft of measures being rolled out to counter BBI opponents may not work as effectively as envisaged unless the strategy is changed.

It would have been strategic for the public servants who met at La Mada Hotel to engage elected leaders in Tangatanga and Kieleweke. They are only repeating the same blunder by working with Kieleweke-affiliated leaders who have no ground support and are literally switching sides for survival.

For them to help President Uhuru Kenyatta, they should employ a strategy that brings Deputy President William Ruto or his point men and women in the region closer to their table and the resistance will be sorted.

There's enough evidence from Senator Irungu Kang'ata that Ruto's thoughts on BBI are mutually shared by many in Mt Kenya and unless they win him over or listen to him, the perception on BBI may not change in the region.