Baringo Members of the County Assembly exchanged kicks and blows in the House on Thursday as the assembly became the first to reject the Building Bridges Initiative Bill 2020 although in a controversial manner.

MCAs on opposing sides fought physically during a heated afternoon debate on the BBI Constitutional (Amendment) Bill that saw the session disrupted for minutes ahead of the vote.

The chaos started after Kabarnet MCA Ernest Kibet was hit twice by his Mogotio counterpart Charles Kosgei throwing the County Assembly sittings into chaos and a free-for-all.


At some point, the lights were switched off and teargas also lobbed into the Assembly floor just as Speaker David Kerich was about to declare the results after all the MCAs had cast their ballots.

Speaker Kerich finally announced the final vote tallies with 30 MCAs voting against the bill, 11 for it and one Ward Representative abstaining even as a section challenged the results saying no voting took place.

KANU MCAs, who are the minority in the Baringo County Assembly with 12 members, had accused their Jubilee Party colleagues of undermining them during the heated session seen as a battle between Deputy President William Ruto and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi.

MCA Amaya Ameja Selemoi alleged that Jubilee MCAs were plotting to shoot down the BBI Bill without Baringo County residents being allowed to engage in public participation as required.

Siaya, Kisumu and Homa Bay County Assemblies are the only ones which have passed the BBI Bill and submitted their decision to the Senate and National Assembly ahead of a referendum that was suspended by the courts.