IEBC has paved the way for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Bill to be tabled in county assemblies after approving that it was backed by at least one million registered voters as required by law.

In a letter to the 47 county assembly speakers, Commission boss Wafula Chebukati said the signature verification process showed the initiative was backed by 1,140,845 registered voters.

The number was from the more than 4.4. million signatures the BBI Secretariat submitted to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on December 10 last year.

“The Commission, through interim verification of data captured as of 19th January 2021, has confirmed and is satisfied that the Initiative has been supported by 1,140,845 registered voters. This is therefore to notify you that the Initiative has met the requisite threshold as provided in Article 257 (4) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” read the letter dated January 24, 2021.

IEBC submitted a copy of the draft BBI (Constitutional Amendment) Bill 2020 to each of the 47 county assemblies to accompany the commission’s letter approving the process.

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“Pursuant to Article 257 (5) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the Commission hereby submits a copy of the draft BBI (Constitutional Amendment) Bill 2020, to your County Assembly for consideration within three months from the date hereof.

“In conformity with Article 257(6) you are required to submit the decisions of your County Assembly to the Speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate within three months from the date of this letter.”

The BBI Secretariat co-chaired by Dennis Waweru and MP Junet Mohammed has termed the approval stamp from IEBC a great milestone as it paves the ways for the BBI referendum.

“With the clearance from IEBC we now have a short time to have the BBI Referendum Bill tabled in all the 47 county assemblies in order to have a referendum conducted as soon as possible. The secretariat will soon be giving more directions with regard to the process,” a statement from Waweru read.