It is sad for WIPER to hoodwink the people of Makueni, the larger Ukambàni and Kenya in general that it intends/ intended to hold a BBI rally in Makuèni County. No BBI rally has been held in the name of any political party up to now.
The authentic Ukàmbani BBI rally was held in Kitui. There we read and presented our resolutions to H.E. Raila Odinga and a BBI Task Force Member Hon. Rose Museo. Hon. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, among other residents of South Eastern Kenya region, were there.
In preparation for the regional BBI rally, four sub-regional meetings were held; two in Kitui, and one in Makuèni and a Wiper led one in Stony Athi, Maçhakos where H.E. Charity K. Ngilu as Chairperson of the South Eastern Kenya BBI Caucus attended. Mr. Peter Muthoka was also in attendance. These four meetings developed our joint resolutions.
The Makueni BBI preparatory meeting was largely a civic education exercise. We had two key educators from the BBI secretariat. EVERY DELEGATE FROM OUR 30 WARDS WAS GIVEN THE BBI REPORT WITHOUT EXCEPTION!
Further we prepared a visual documentary in Kikamba which has been used for civic education on BBI. This happened from the original preparatory Kitui BBI meeting hosted by H.E. CK Ngilu. Through radio we also prepared a Kikamba programme on BBI.
Makueni County has translated for wide dissemination the BBI Annex 1 Summary of 26 pages (not merely the abridged summary) into Kiswahili and Kikamba.
Therefore the WIPER proposed rally was a political event intended to disrupt on-going county-wide budget process and preparations for the devolution conference.
This is not the season for political rallies. When the time comes for grassroots BBI sensitization activities and the sequel referendum campaign, all will be free to host as many meetings as is necessary to demonstrate genuine support.
However we see no harm in anybody distributing any BBI materials to citizens as happened in Wote before, in entire county and in Meru recently. On March 6, 2020 we shall share with WIPER the BBI materials we have developed for distribution. We are also recruiting our civic educators to become engaged in structured civic education throughout the lower Eastern region and beyond.
During our first 5 years of devolution, our development initiatives were seriously disrupted. Majority of MCAs who at that time were used for such sabotage were WIPER MCAs. We shàll not allow the same catastrophe to befall the people of Makueni for a second time. We shàll do whatever it legàlly and politically takes to safeguard the integrity òf our mothercounty.
We totally support the BBI given its potential to expand devolution and we also know there are some of our community members who are ambivalent about it. A key WIPER strongman has rejected the BBI and advised SKM to do the same. This individual is WIPER’s barometer. In Makueni the leading Kalonzo MCAs clearly oppose the BBI. They èven boldly post on Whatsapp walls their opposition. They are never reprimanded.
Our support for WIPER and Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka has been taken for granted. We supported SKM when his fortunes were dwindling in Mwingi, Kitui and Maçhakos. Hitherto Makueni has been the thread on which Kalonzo’s political life precariously hangs.
We are now rethinking for how long we can maintain somebody whose value for the region has drastically diminished on extended life support.
Kivuthà Kibwana 5 March 2020