Opposition chief Raila Odinga has ruled out taking the BBI case to the Supreme Court should the Court of Appeal uphold the High Court ruling, saying his focus is now on winning the 2022 presidential election.
Mr Odinga said he will respect the court’s outcome and that he, together with President Uhuru Kenyatta, will instead concentrate on clinching the presidency and forming the government next year.
He spoke two days before the seven-judge bench hearing the case, led by the Court of Appeal President Justice Daniel Musinga, delivers its ruling on Friday August 20, 2021.
The other judges on the bench are Justices Hannah Okwengu, Fatuma Sichale, Patrick Kiage, Roselyne Nambuye, Gatembu Kairu and Francis Tuiyott.
Speaking during a live phone interview with a local FM station, Radio Nam Lolwe, Mr Odinga said he will put a pause on ‘reggae’ and continue with the quest for constitutional reforms once they form government next year.
Concentrate on 2022 polls
“If the courts rule otherwise, it is not the end of the road. We will keep BBI in a certain envelope and go on and take over government first in 2022. After that, we shall go back to BBI because there is a lot that our people want to be changed in the Constitution,” said Mr Odinga.
He added: “We do not want to waste any more time by going to the Supreme Court. We will now concentrate fully on elections. After clinching power, then we will go for BBI.”
Mr Odinga also ruled out the possibility of going the Parliament route to implement some of the reforms that do not necessarily need a referendum to change or implement.
He refrained from declaring whether he will be contesting as the presidential flag bearer of the coalition the ODM party is forming with President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party, saying that will be evident after the fate of the BBI is known.
“After BBI, I will declare officially my stand on the presidency but what I know is the elections will go on whether it is me or any other person on the ballot, we just have to be prepared for it,” said the opposition chief.
Register to vote
He asked his supporters to arm themselves with their national identification cards and voters’ cards because there are many youths who have attained the age of 18 years since the last elections.
“Let us proceed with continuous voter registration and not wait for IEBC to call for mass registration,” he said, asking his supporters to come out in large numbers next year to exercise their constitutional right.
He stated that he would not wish to witness voter apathy in a year that he wishes to witness change.
He also touched on his planned regional meeting on Thursday in Sikri, Homa Bay County where delegates from the six counties of Nyanza will be making a resolution and rallying their support behind the ODM leader in his quest for presidency.
He pointed out that it will be a meeting bringing together 100 delegates from each of the six counties and that he may not be accompanied by the new allies he met in Nakuru County Tuesday.
Meet Nyanza leaders
“I will be meeting leaders from Nyanza only and it is only in Nairobi where all the leaders from across the country, will attend. This will be our own dialogue with our people from Nyanza where we will come out with a resolution as a region,” said Mr Odinga.
He said there is need to get more allies when one is going for an important mission, downplaying claims that he is losing ground in some of his strongholds.
He singled out Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, who was recently removed as the county ODM Chairman after he was accused of betrayal and lack of loyalty by Mr Odinga.
He said despite this new development, ODM remains the strongest party in Kilifi, Kwale, Mombasa, Lamu, Taita Taveta and Tana River.
“If you are going to war, you need new allies because some have fallen along the way and we have to move on. Some got tired in this long journey and have requested them to rest but we have very new energetic youth who have joined us and we are even stronger than before,” he said.
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