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No, Kenya’s Migori county passed Building Bridges Initiative bill to amend constitution

In February 2021, 24 Kenyan county assemblies approved a bill to amend the country’s constitution in line with recommendations by the Building Bridges Initiative

The BBI is a national unity and reform drive spearheaded by president Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Any changes to the constitution require legislation that must be passed by at least 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties.

As news of which counties had approved the bill came out, one Facebook user claimed that the Migori county assembly had rejected it. 

“Breaking! Migori county has unanimously rejected the BBI bill,” the post reads.

Is this true? We checked.

BridgesBill_False

‘Strongly and boldly support this initiative’

The county’s website shows that it unanimously passed the bill. 

“Migori County Assembly becomes one of the 47 counties which has come out strongly and boldly to support this initiative which is geared towards realising the fruits of the famous handshake between Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta,” an announcement on the site reads

On 4 March, the speaker of Kenya’s national assembly said Migori the county assembly had submitted “certificate of approval and copies of the draft Bill”. 

The certificate officially notified the national assembly that the county assembly had approved the bill. Counties also have to submit the draft bill for the national assembly to verify that they had not made any changes to the bill.

The Migori county assembly did approve the bill. The Facebook post is false.

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