Ex-MP launches grassroots campaign for BBI in Murang’a

Former Kangema MP Tirus Ngahu has told off people criticising for his involvement in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) campaigns saying they will continue crisscrossing the region drumming up support for President Uhuru Kenyatta.

While likening his team with the Biblical John the Baptist, the former MP, who has teamed up with Murang’a County Jubilee Party leaders to meet opinion leaders at the grassroots, said they are preparing the way for the President in Mt Kenya region.

Mr Ngahu together with Murang’a County Jubilee Party coordinator Peter Muhia and other leaders, met over 100 opinion leaders at a hotel in Kenol last week to discuss the way forward after the BBI taskforce hands over its report to President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

WAY FORWARD

Mr Ngahu said the meeting with the opinion leaders was also to strategize and chat the way forward on the implementation of recommendations by the taskforce, saying they have to be ready since a constitutional review is a must.

“From where I sit, the country must have a constitutional review and this can be attested to by the proposals from various elected leaders and organisations to the BBI when they toured counties. We don’t want to be caught unawares when the taskforce recommends changes of representation, governance and electoral laws,” he said.

BBI LEGAL

During the meeting, lawyer Stephen Muriuki sought to convince the opinion leaders that BBI was legally constituted, refuting claims that it was an amorphous body using tax payers’ money.

“A lot of lies have been peddled about BBI but the fact is the taskforce was legally constituted under Article 131 of the Constitution under the authority of the President.

But Mr Ngahu has received a backlash from a section of leaders who questioned his ability to drum up support for the BBI.

Mr Stephen Habire Chege, a youth leader and a nominated MCA, dismissed the group as attention seekers, saying there is need to include all the leaders to campaign for the BBI.

“These are people positioning themselves but they should be warned that failure to include the leaders, the BBI could suffer the same fate as Punguza Mizigo,” he said.

BLACKMAIL

But Mr Ngahu dismissed his opponents, accusing them of trying to blackmail the State to be given money so that they can drum up support for the BBI.

“For those wondering whether we have the blessings of the main proponents of BBI, they should not concentrate on me but on the message. If they support the BBI, they should urge the electorate to support the taskforce’s recommendations when they are out instead of waiting for a budget from the State,” he said.

Speaking at Kiamara shopping centre on Sunday, Mr Ngahu said a section of the elected leaders have been lying that the ground is hostile for them to be given money to convince locals about the BBI. He dismissed them as hypocrites.

“We shall continue to mobilise locals to understand the BBI, get ready to support its recommendations and to prepare on what next after the report is ready. In fact we are now heading to Kirinyaga County for the same exercise. If they support the President let them join us so and if they don’t let them declare it,” he said.