6,000 delegates expected to grace BBI ceremony in city
George Kebaso @Morarak
All is set for today’s grand launch of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report at the Bomas of Kenya with 6,000 delegates expected to grace the event.
Yesterday, organisers were putting the final touches to the venue, with the main auditorium expected to host about 1,000 delegates while the tents erected outside will accommodate the rest of the invited guests.
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Nairobi Regional Commissioner James Kianda led other officials from the Interior Ministry in ensuring everything is in place.
Thousands of copies of the report were delivered at the venue in trucks. They will be distributed to the guests today. Guests are expected to be seated by 9 am.
According to Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Executive Director Oduor Ong’wen, the party will be represented by close to 600 delegates from across the country.
“We have invited all our party representatives led by governors, senators and parliamentary leadership.
We expect close to 600 from all the counties,” he told People Daily. Jubilee on the other side has invited governors and its legislative leadership, party director of Communications Albert Memusi said.
“We have also invited party rebels to attend the event because it is a national function,” he said last evening while inspecting preparations.
It was not clear whether Deputy President William Ruto, who has led criticism of the report in recent days, would attend the event after snubbing its official hand-over to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga at the State Lodge in Kisii last Wednesday.
Official invitation
An aide to the DP who sought anonymity said his boss had not received the official invitation as at last evening.
“Who is distributing the invitation cards, is it State House or the (BBI) Secretariat? I have just called the office and been informed that so far they have not received any invitation.
So how can we attend the event without being invited? If we get the invitation, we will attend, if not, we will not,” said the aide.
At the venue, seats were arranged one and half meters apart in line with the Covid-19 protocols with dozens of handwashing basins placed at strategic points.
Security is also expected to be tight with two main security zones to screen the delegates.
