Kenya: Kuria Revives BBI Talks, Says Expanded Executive to Offer Opposition Post-Election Reprieve

What the report says

Former Kenyan Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has said Parliament is likely to revisit legislation for an expanded Executive, reviving debate around proposals first associated with the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). In comments shared on Monday and reported by Capital FM, Kuria argued that Kenya’s political arithmetic would push both the Kenya Kwanza government and the opposition toward a model that creates the offices of Prime Minister and two Deputy Prime Ministers alongside the President and Deputy President.

Kuria said the proposal, which he linked to the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) process, would soon be introduced in Parliament and could gain bipartisan backing quickly. He suggested that the current executive arrangement cannot comfortably absorb competing political interests and warned that failure to adjust it could create political strain.

The remarks have reopened discussion of BBI, the constitutional reform agenda that followed the 2018 handshake between then-President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga. BBI’s broader aims included reducing election-related conflict, strengthening cohesion and changing the structure of government, but the initiative was later struck down in court and effectively ended after rulings in 2021 and 2022.

AllAfrica’s report notes that some NADCO-linked reforms are already moving through Parliament in separate bills, while the executive-structure proposal has not yet been formally introduced as a constitutional amendment. If advanced, it would likely face Kenya’s constitutional amendment requirements and could ultimately require a referendum.