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A section of Kenyan youth has vowed to reject the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) unless certain conditions are met.
Taking to Twitter, the youth demanded that their names be cleared on the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB), and Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) before passing BBI. CRB and HELB hit number one on trending with more than 5,000 tweets on Friday.
They cited President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s promise to give MCAs a Sh2 million car grant each as a condition to pass the BBI Bill in the county assemblies.
During separate meetings with Kenyatta and Odinga, MCAs sought assurance that they will benefit from car grants, just like MPs, before they can support the proposals in the BBI Bill.
Kenyan youth argued that their demands should equally be met before they are asked to rally behind the initiative.
@ValentineMwamb3 wrote: “I will only support BBI if it will favor me as a comrade to clear up my names on CRB and Helb loan the same way MCA’s have been granted 2 Million in order to pass it or else it will remain.”
@mathu_wilson posted: “In the car grant spirit, our CRB and HELB loans must be cleared before we pass this thing.”
@FrankKubamba tweeted: “All un-employed graduates with “CRB and HELB” the govt should write off all their loans since its becoming a mandatory to be cleared by HELB for one to get an employment.”
@YouthAdvocateKe said: “We As Youths We Also Demand that The Government Clears Us From CRB and HELB Loans Before We Pass BBI! Alah.”
@VictorMochere stated: “If MCAs will be granted Ksh2 million to pass the BBI, youths also should be granted CRB and HELB clearance waivers to pass this thing. We need a robust conversation; Kenya doesn’t belong to politicians alone. Ama namna gani my frens?”
@RonoNorman wrote: “This is the Spirit we want from the Youths. If BBI is to be passed, then the Government must first be ready to ‘Forgive and Forget’ CRB and HELB loans before they can Vote Yes.”
Latest data puts the number loan accounts negatively listed with CRBs at 14 million. The number grew by 45 percent in the five months to January 2021 after Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) lifted a three-month moratorium on loan repayment.
Comments
Direct cash is the best way.
I propose ksh 200,000 per month for 12 months for each Kenyan and 2 packs of bottled water (24 pack) per Kenyan
Life is so hard being a Kenyan. It is time we got paid.
...ati stimulus...pesa itoke wapi? And you taking about reps? which representatives? Those guys are there for their own..you are just vehicles to get them there as they sit, ride and live on your poor backs. Glad someone out there has hope...coz most don't. Sad affair it is.
How about getting a car grant too? How stupid are these youth? CA has one vote just like you.
Indeed stupid of youth whoever they are to demand bribe so that they can pass BBI without thinking of consequences there after . we are doomed if youth go same path like our mpigs
You can’t have it both ways. Huge stimulus packages can do well in very well established economies, not in a poor country like Kenya OR else you’ll end up devaluing the local currency way below Ugandan level! If you have a personal debt incurred way before COVID you should be given a grace period to pay up. Forgiving personal debts enmasse with no concessions attached will lead to deflation of the economy. What the mcas are getting are grants/ ‘repayable loans’ they are not ‘free’ passe as fake news are putting it. Young people dont blackmail your country. Ask for more time to repay and have the CRB clean up your records. But dont arm twist the govt to forgive your loans or no BBI, whatever happened to patriotism and nationalism? Such a shame!!
The contention is not whether the mcas are getting ksh 2 million as a loan. Why is it conditioned on passing BBI? Sort of quid pro quo. And everyone knows it’s plain bribery. And the question is if the president can bribe mcas with loans to pass an agenda, why won’t the youth or everybody else ask for the same?
What is good for goose is also good for gander.
Kenyans need to be paid to pass BBI.
Otherwise, BBI is the beginning of secession.
Let’s face, we have tried everything. It is time to split Kenya into two.
The marriage is damaged beyond repair.
The Pandora’s box is now opened. What do Uhuru and his co president Raila do?
Decisions as to whether a stimulus bill would go thru or not are in the hands of those in power/parliament. What we can do in this forum is talk about ideas and/or solutions to the current problems that we face.
When you think about this BBI the cost to the Kenyan tax payer are just too high; 1) why would we increase the number of MPS by about 200? 2) Why would you require the central govt to give the counties 35%, when already as we speak the central govt cannot pay the counties 100 billion shillings with only a 15% minimum requirement? 3) Why would we increase the size of govt? We all know that increasing the size of Govt will increase the level of corruption by putting more money in the hands of selfish politicians.
A stimulus package on the other hand is a one time event; Plus the decision makers would decide what is the correct amount to dish out, what is the best way to give it to the people of Kenya, or even to do away with the idea all together and use other govt programs to economically empower ordinary Kenyans. The main point is that A stimulus package is actually a much cheaper option than this BBI. Plus if done correctly it would cover a significant number of pertinent issues.
Corruption is embedded deep in our DNA..
WE ARE ASKING FOR BRIBES TO PASS BBI??
SHAME ON YOU ALL.....
REVOLUTION IS THE ONLY CURE FOR KENYA.
What's good for the goose is great for the duck as well as per women rep Waruguru. Give everybody what they want and we all happy. Happy nations do the same. Put aside extreme corrupted capitalism.
In the Netherlands MCAs salaries are terms as compensation of appr. €4000 per month = equavalent to less than 50,000 mostly they travel by bicycles . They do not get any grants for car or otherwise . They get paid for the official travels on hand of receipts. they are not called s of Muheshimiwas they don't consider themselves muheshimiwas they considre themselves as workers for the communities they represent . If they want to buy a car/house etc they will take loans privately . our MCA address themselves as honorable and all they know is to grow bellies. it is shameful , disgusting and unacceptable to think of grants while wanjiku is dying of hunger . 50 Kids starched in ONE room to learn. the main issue now and at this time is the welfare of our children, elderly, youth jobs ( but not wheelbarrow job) meaningful job creation /training . when will Kenyan politicians mature or us to vote for those who can be relevant to our grievances
Why not create a big Kenyan Stimulus Package Bill that will address a significant amount of issues that Kenyans can all agree on, instead of wasting Money on BBI?
We can have a Kenyan stimulus bill that; 1)forgives a significant portion of student loans, 2)Gives Grants/small business loans to Small business people(bodaboda,mama mboga,makanga,fishermen, etc) 3)Give Grants/cheap loans to farmers
4)Allocates a significant amount of money for free tuition etc etc.
Kenyans can also have a robust discuss via their representatives in Parliament and in the counties on what is the best way to give this money to the people.