Raila scoffs at Ruto for seeking to create Opposition Office, which was in BBI
The Opposition Chief Mr Raila Odinga has told off President William Ruto for attempting to sneak in a proposal contained in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
The President has so far addressed the Parliament, asking it to consider introducing constitutional amendment Bills to create the Office of Opposition Leader and Constituency Development Fund as a way of keeping the government more accountable.
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Mr Odinga said that the BBI proposals that were termed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court had advocated for the creation of the office of the opposition leader.
“Instead, Mr Ruto has appropriated the views of these people and speaks of the proposals as his own. But further than that, in making these proposals, he falls foul of the same demands he made and used to lead the challenge against BBI,” Mr Odinga said.
In his statement on Twitter on Monday, the ODM leader said that the president must follow the constitution if he wants to create the office of the opposition leader.
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He said that if President Ruto had supported BBI proposals, everything that he is currently suggesting after taking the office would be law today.
“However, they can’t be presented as he has done nor processed through the procedure he is prescribing. He must comply with the same imperatives that he demanded during BBI.”
The Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader said that during the BBI debate, President Ruto demanded that a president cannot initiate constitutional amendments, that amendments must start with the people, that the process of the amendment is people driven, and that amendments must chiefly centre on the interests of the common man.
The BBI had proposed establishing the office of the Leader of the Opposition who will be the runner-up in the presidential election.
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Recently while on his visit to the western region, President Ruto said that his decision to seek the empowerment of the opposition office was to ensure public resources are utilized properly.
“I am a great believer in an accountable government. That is why we want our oversight institutions, Parliament and the Opposition to be empowered so that they can ensure that public resources are used properly and appropriately so that we can run an accountable,” President Ruto said.
President Ruto said that the opposition will be doing its job, and the government would also be playing its role of delivering to Kenyans.
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