Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua has said that leaders from Mt Kenya region would support the eagerly awaited Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) proposals if they address issues affecting the bloc.
The report is expected to be officially handed to President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday next week by the BBI chairman, Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji.
Speaking on Saturday at Kabiruini village in Mathira Constituency, Rigathi welcomed the assurance by the President that Kenyans would be allowed to discuss, study, dialogue and build consensus and see what is acceptable.
“We are looking forward for the release of BBI. We know the President was here the other day and gave us assurance that everybody will get a chance to discuss it,” Gachagua note.
The MP said he would like to see mechanisms in the report that contain severe penalties and sanctions for those who refuse to accept election results.
“The problem of this country is not the nine-point agenda, but the problem is election violence,” the MP said.
Gachagua said Kenyans would not leave MPs to elect the President, adding that the people want to choose the president directly.
“We cannot allow members of Parliament to choose the president,” he said.
The lawmaker called for equitable sharing of resources according to an area’s population, adding that regions with few people received equal resources with those that are densely populated.
He added that if the BBI addresses equal distribution of resources, one man one vote, one shilling and allowed people to elect the President directly, then he would have no problem with it.
Further, Gachagua further said that BBI proposals should address the problems facing the coffee, tea, dairy sector and tackle the rampant unemployment among the youth.
