3.1M Kenyans support BBI Bill: IEBC

The BBI Bill has been supported by 3,188,001 registered voters, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commision (IEBC) has said in a statement.

The new development now gives county assemblies across the country the go-ahead to debate the Bill.

As of January 19, the commission had verified 1,140,845 signatures which had allowed for the transmission of the draft bill to all the counties on January 26.

According to the Kenyan law: Article 257; once the Electoral commission has verified and is satisfied that the initiative has the backing of at least one million registered voters, it shall proceed to submit the draft bill to all the 47 counties for debating within three months.

So far, the Bill has been passed in 12 county assemblies and rejected in one; Baringo.

The Samburu County Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly passed the BBI Bill, becoming the twelfth assembly in Kenya to do so.

Vihiga, Nairobi and Laikipia passed the Bill on Thursday, becoming the ninth, tenth and eleventh county assemblies to do so.

In Nairobi, members of the assembly passed the Bill unanimously, with the 114 legislators present voting in its support.

ODM leader Raila Odinga and one of the Bill’s key lobbyists has expressed confidence that the Bill will have been passed in 24 assemblies by Tuesday, paving the way for its next destination; the National Assembly.