Deputy President William Ruto and his allies have warned ODM leader Raila Odinga against politicising the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
Mr Ruto, who spoke in Soy, Keiyo South, Elgeyo-Marakwet, maintained that the Jubilee Party stood for the unity of the country.
“Those who want to create new faultlines as we work towards building bridges for the unity of our nation in order to eliminate hate and divisions, those who want take us that path will fail miserably,” he said.
Mr Ruto said he and President Uhuru Kenyatta were committed to uniting the country.
“Let us talk about unity of Kenyans, not these sideshows that create unnecessary enmity, ethnicity and division within the Republic of Kenya. That is where President Kenyatta and I stand,” he said.
“We want to make sure that the future of this country is not based on this community vs that community, or personality against another personality but ideas that bring Kenyans together,” said the DP. He added that through unity, they would transform Kenya.
“Our core mandate as leaders whether in opposition or in government is to bring people together.”
Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen accused Mr Odinga of pushing his own interests using the BBI initiative.
“If the BBI is good, why are they pushing it hard down people’s throats. We heard the President saying that he supports BBI but he never talked about changing the Constitution. He (Odinga) should first consult the President before lecturing us about BBI,” said the Senator.
He also accused the opposition of using the BBI to sideline Mr Ruto ahead of the 2022 election.
Leaders present included MPs Daniel Rono (Keiyo South), Kangogo Bowen (Marakwet East) and Uasin Gishu Senator Margaret Kamar. Others were Elgeyo-Marakwet Deputy Governor Wesley Rotich.
The Kimwarer dam issue also dominated the function, with leaders pleading with the DP to intervene for the project to resume.
“The Kimwarer and Arror dam projects must go on as planned.
We will not accept the money to be scaled down in the Arror project … all these projects might delay but one thing I am telling you is, they will be built to completion,” said Mr Murkomen.
He also questioned why the projects were said to be costly while others were going on as planned.
“We are witnessing projects being launched everyday countrywide with their initial budgets intact. We are demanding back the Kimwarer dam project to be reinstated. We are also demanding that Arror dam be scaled up to its initial budget,” he said.
Mr Murkomen said he would ensure that the projects are revived.
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