Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga dismissed reports that the government has been spending millions of money to drum up support for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.
The Africa Union envoy disclosed that the government has not spent even a single coin in the rallies despite criticism over misuse of public resources in the unnecessary campaigns.
Speaking on Sunday, January 26, during a high voltage interview with NTV, the long-serving politician said all leaders who have been attending BBI forums have been using their money.
“This notion that BBI campaigns are spending billions is all a creation of the media. We have not spent even a single coin on BBI rallies, those who attend them come at their own will, we don’t ferry people to attend the forums,” said Raila.
He further disclosed that the only money that they have been spending were basically on the public address systems and for the podium
Raila’s sentiments came amid concern from the public over the manner in which the campaigns have been run with Deputy President William Ruto saying they were a wastage of public money given nobody is opposed to the proposals.
Since the campaigns begun in Kisii on January 10, two more others have been held in Kakamega and Mombasa counties. More campaigns are scheduled to take place in Meru, Nyeri, Garissa and Nakuru.
In April 2019, during State of the Nation Address President Uhuru Kenyatta set aside KSH 10 billion to support the initiative which he said was very crucial in healing wounds of historical grievances and uniting the nation.
Recently, Senate majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen claimed politicians who attended the Kakamega rally were each paid KSh 100,000.
During launch of the report which was held at Bomas of Kenya, it was reported that over ksh 5000 was spend to pay each delegate who attended the function.
The launch brought together over 47,000 delegates with each county being represented by at least 100 representatives.
