\u00a0<\/p>\n President Uhuru Kenyatta and Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga reacts during the launch of the collection of signatures for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) at KICC in Nairobi on November 25, 2020<\/strong>. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]\n<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n The fate of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) finally comes to the fore on Tuesday when the Supreme Court of Kenya (SCK) starts its hearings. Whether or not it\u2019s fate is sealed, the\u00a0BBI\u00a0ghosts\u00a0could\u00a0linger on to the polling day and even shape the presidential campaign. \u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n Even after initial setbacks by the High Court and Court of Appeal rulings in May and August, last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, have continued to send signals on the possible revival of the\u00a0BBI\u00a0process or implementation of its proposals, irrespective of the initiative\u2019s fate at the hands of the Judiciary.\n<\/p>\n While Raila has maintained that \u201creggae (BBI\u00a0process) is on half time break\u201d, Uhuru has particularly been critical of those opposed to the initiative. On Thursday, while hosting dinner for a section of legislators at State House, Nairobi, the president took a swipe at unnamed individuals for \u201cdemonising\u201d the\u00a0BBI\u00a0as well as the Political Parties Bill.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Murang\u2019a County MP, Sabina Chege, there remains a lot of interest in\u00a0BBI\u00a0among the residents of Mt Kenya region, owing to a host of their interests in representation and allocation of funds from the exchequer to constituency and county kitties, which remain unfulfilled to this day after the initiative stalled in the courts.\n<\/p>\n Revisiting\u00a0BBI<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Nonetheless, the politician says whichever way the ruling by the SCK goes, the people of Mt Kenya region alongside other Kenyans who value the\u00a0BBI\u00a0proposals will hold to account those opposed to the initiative for standing in the way of the people. <\/p>\n \u201cTime might not be on our aside now, since we are focused on the upcoming polls, but we shall remind our people who our enemies are and urge them to vote wisely in August, so we can have another opportunity to revisit the\u00a0BBI\u00a0agenda and access the goodies therein,\u201d Sabina told this writer.\n<\/p>\n But maintaining that\u00a0BBI\u00a0is \u201cdead\u201d, Nandi\u00a0Senator Samson Cherargei, says the initiative is history \u201cthat should be left to rest\u201d. A fervent critic of the initiative, the vocal legislator opines that\u00a0BBI\u00a0was never about the people but interests of a few members of the political class and that if talk on the initiative is revived ahead of the August poll, \u201cit shall be out of vested interests to make political capital\u201d.\n<\/p>\n University of Nairobi\u2019s political science lecturer, Dr Richard Bosire, however points out that the timing of the\u00a0BBI\u00a0petition hearings will doubtlessly make the Uhuru-Raila backed initiative a campaign issue. This is particularly the case in the densely populated Mt Kenya region where residents were destined to be the greatest beneficiaries, in terms of proposed creation of new administrative and electoral units as well as allocation of funds from the central government.\n<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/kzqxin5jmvajkjk61e3d6e34d116.jpg\")
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