Raila Odinga spills the beans on secret handshake pact

ODM Leader Raila Odinga on Thursday  called on Kenya to go to for a referendum for the nation to fully achieve the goals of the Building Bridges initiative.

Mr.Odinga claimed the calls for a referendum, which will ultimately cause alterations in the structure of government, are tied with the peace initiative which was borne from the now famous March 9 handshake. Raila entered into a post-2017 poll truce with President Uhuru Kenyatta in a 9-point agenda towards building lasting unity and peace in the country.

The peace process followed the highly disputed August and October 2017 presidential election. Raila and his allies boycotted the second round of the polls. The former Prime minister was speaking in Migori County during a rally in support of ODM Senator candidate Ochillo Ayacko that changes expected after the plebiscite is for Kenya’s good.

“The referendum calls are to make the 2010 Constitution better and stronger, and most importantly to safeguard the supreme law,” Raila said.

Migori is set to elect a new senator on Monday, a poll which that results from the death of Senator Ben Oluoch Okello.

Raila also added that the Building Bridges team will go round the country collecting views from Kenyans on how best the Constitution should be changed.

The former prime minister said the calls for Constitution change is among major issues that the handshake will seek to rectify.

“The vote will help safeguard the President’s legacy and chart the country in the right path for a better future,” Raila said.

He cited strengthening devolution to make it stronger and work better for Kenyans as among the changes.

Others will be a change in the structure of the Executive “to ease the taxpayers burden.”

“We will also seek to safeguard the environment under the referendum where Kenyans will give their views on how best to move forward on the matter,” he said.