Political expert Javas Bigambo now says that 2022 presidential hopefuls might be forced back to the drawing board after the launch of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.
The commentator says that with the report only suggesting one additional government slot, it has not made the job any easier for those eyeing the top seat in the fast-approaching race.
He opines that had the several additional seats been proposed, then hopefuls would have rallied on ethnic calculations to win the seat by dangling the positions in a bid to woo voters.
But with only the Prime Minister and Deputy President slots to offer, he said on Saturday, hopefuls can now only win by convincing Kenyans and playing their cards right.
“The BBI report has thrown a spanner into the works on ethnic arithmetic. It has stirred up issues of political arithmetic for those hoping to run for president,” he said.
He added that had the taskforce proposed additional slots, then it would have intensified tribal politics as ethnic groupings would only vote because of positions promised to them.
“It would have to be known for instance from which region or community will a deputy president or prime minister come from,” he added.
Some political players had proposed a full extension of the executive, including the introduction of an executive Premier and his two deputies.
But the report only proposes the introduction of the official leader of opposition slot, which will be reserved for the person who appears second in the presidential race.