Azimio la Umoja One Kenya boss Raila Odinga is accusing President William Ruto of trying to reintroduce the Building Bridges Initiative(BBI) through the backdoor.

This comes after the President through a memorandum to parliament proposed a raft of constitutional amendments.

In his memorandum to the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula and Senate’s Amason Kingi on Friday,Ruto is calling for amendments he says will   address four issues.

The issues include the elusive gender rule, the National Government Constituency Development Fund, the position of the Leader of Official Opposition and parliamentary oversight of the Executive.

Also Read: President Ruto Wants Establishment of Office of Opposition Leader

But Raila says that the President’s proposals could have been cured by the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) which he vehemently opposed.

“The memorandum of President William Ruto to the Speakers of both the National Assembly and the Senate proposing several amendments of the Constitution of Kenya is puzzling to many Kenyans and myself as it undoubtedly seeks to re-introduce the same matters that had for many months been suggested by the Building Bridges Initiative.”

“For a similar period, the same had been vehemently opposed by Mr Ruto when he went around the country campaigning in the years 2018-2021.

“I find it puzzling because the memorandum presents these proposals without any recognition of the fact that the BBI reports, which are official government documents, contain all these proposals coupled with the rationale why these suggestions had been found to be necessary by the people of Kenya who participated in the process,” Odinga said.

Change of heart on BBI

Odinga wonders why President Ruto would want to amend the Constitution while he had said during the BBI campaigns that such processes are for Kenyans and not leaders.

“But further than that, in making these proposals, he falls foul of the same demands he made and used to lead the challenge against BBI. These demands, all stated personally by himself, are: That a president cannot initiate constitutional amendments that all proposals for amendments to the Constitution must start with the people and that the process of amendment must be people-driven,” Odinga added.

Raila now says he will not support Ruto’s proposals since the proposals made by President Ruto were in the BBI.

“I will not be hypocritical about his memorandum as far as the content of the proposals is concerned because these are BBI proposals. However, they cannot be presented as he has done, and neither can they be processed through the procedure that he is prescribing. He must comply with the same imperatives that he demanded of the BBI process,” he said.

During the 2022 presidential campaigns,President Ruto had accused Odinga of vying for the presidency so as to reintroduce BBI and create more positions for ‘dynasties’.

The BBI was dealt a blow through  a series of court decisions which finally so the Supreme court declare it unconstitutional.

The BBI had among other proposals sought to introduce the office of Prime Minister and office of the official leader of opposition.