President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga have been invited to the United States of America (USA) to deliver a talk on the handshake.
Speaking during a BBI public consultative meeting at Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega on Saturday, Raila said that he and President Uhuru have been invited to Washington for two days early next month to speak about the handshake.
“The handshake is a unique thing and other people want to hear more about it,” he said.
Raila said that he and president Uhuru came up with the BBI to transform the country.
He said that earlier efforts to transform Kenya have failed despite there being a constitution.
“BBI is not about Raila or Uhuru Kenyatta. It’s about Kenya. What we are doing is for the posterity of the country. We must move Kenyans from poverty to posterity,” he said.
He rubbished those claiming that he was using BBI to position himself for the next elections saying, “2022 is an event that will come and go but we must get a lasting solution to the challenged afflicting Kenyans.”
He said that China has moved over 300 million people from poverty to middle income in less than two decades and the same can happen in Kenya.
Raila asked Kenyan leaders to look at the BBI report in totality and not only sections to now that he and Uhuru were serious about transforming Kenya. “We want to fight corruption to ensure that the money that looters carry around in sacs go to public coffers to benefit Kenyans,” he said.
Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru said that Central key governors were fully behind President Kenyatta. Waiguru said that all governors the Mt Kenya region had taken a common stand to support the BBI.
“No governor in the region has been left out. I am in the nation committee that is steering the process and other leaders will play key roles in coordinating the process in the region,” she said.
The event was attended by 15 governors, 14 senators and 68 MPs and a host of MCAs.
COTU boss Francis Atwoli said that BBI was the surest way for Luhyas to get into government. He said that those opposed to the BBI were after raw power for personal aggrandizement.
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi said that the BBI should ensure laws in place to protect the economy.
He said that the law reforms must take into account the deprived benefits of communities ling along common borders.
‘The BBI should address issues of economy of Western residents. Despite our major trader partners being Uganda by virtue of being on the common border, all the benefits of the trade between Uganda and Kenya (Luhya) goes to Nairobi and does not benefit us,” he said.
Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa said that President Kenyatta will visit Western soon to discuss the ailing sugar sector.