The recently launched Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report was edited, renowned lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi has claimed.
Reacting after President Uhuru Kenyatta extended term for the Building Bridges for National Unity Advisory Task-force, Abdullahi said the extension was to ensure the team 'brings back the original draft', which proposes radical changes in the structure of government.
Without providing evidence, he claimed the original manuscript had proposed creation of office of a powerful Prime Minister (PM) and a single seven-year presidential term.
In a tweet on Sunday, the Senior Counsel said the BBI report which was unveiled last month has annoyed ODM party, especially the proposal for a PM who is nominated and can be fired by the president.
"You are reading the edited copy. Now they will bring back the original draft with 2 important features: (1) Executive PM who shares powers with the president. (2) one seven-year presidential term. The edited draft has annoyed ODM. The original version is the appeasement," the lawyer tweeted.
Ahmednasir was responding to renowned economist, Mohamed Wehliye who said he had read the entire BBI report, and did not see anything substantial.
"I have finally finished reading the BBI. Like the comedy, Seinfeld, the document is a show about nothing. And this may turn out to be quite a plus point. All in the BBI document will be achieved only because it is about nothing," he said.
The remarks by the Senior Counsel came barely days after Uhuru extended term for the BBI task force, to ensure the report which was launched on November 27, is subjected to a second round of public participation.
"We are going to be leading a process through which Kenyans will contribute further to the report. We will have town hall meetings all over the country,” said Ambassador Martin Kimani as quoted by Nation.
Kimani, alongside lawyer Paul Mwangi, are joint secretaries of the BBI task force.
ODM has already backed the BBI report which was launched by Uhuru and Raila last month, and has been calling for a referendum as a means to implement it.