KERICHO: Bomet governor Isaac Ruto, and two URP Members of Parliament have been told to quit the party and seek fresh mandate for their respective seats instead of trying to wreck the party from within.
Council of Governors Chairperson and Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto
Speaking at Kirenget trading centre during a fundraising for Boba Boda accident victims recuperating at Litein Mission hospital , Kuresoi South constituency youths led by Robert Too distanced themselves from the recent sharp political differences pitting Ruto, Nandi Hills Member of Parliament Alfred Keter, and his Kuresoi South counterpart Zakayo Cheruiyot, against the Deputy president William Ruto.
“All these URP leaders crying wolf here and there owe their respective seats to the Deputy president endorsement during the last general election and if they now feel they do not need him, let them man-up and resign from the party and seek fresh leadership mandate through another party,” Too said.
Weldon Rono reminded the trio that what their respective electorates expect is service delivery and not empty chatter over vague issues and a war allegedly stemming out of personal differences.
Samuel Kirui reminded the disgruntled URP leaders that their move is not healthy for the unity of members of the Kalenjin community.
“Ruto, Keter and Cheruiyot should be the last group to fight the deputy president because as a community, it’s wrong for some of us to be the ones aiming deadly darts at our own leader,” Kirui said.
He pleaded with the “troublesome trio” that to put politics aside saying this was not a time for URP leaders from South Rift or North Rift to enter into pointless political duels with the deputy president.
Kirui argued that the DP’s seat is a coveted position which ordinary members of the Kalenjin community do not take for granted.
Meanwhile, Kuresoi South Member of Parliament Zakayo Cheruiyot has run into trouble with Members of the Kericho County Assembly over his remarks that a South Rift leaders meeting Deputy president held in his Sugoi home in Uasin Gishu was all about spreading falsehoods and undermining elected leaders from the region who were not present.
The 47 members, led by the Assembly Speaker Japheth Mutai, said they had been forced to set the record straight that the meeting was clandestinely organized and they had gone to Ruto’s home on a mission “to spread propaganda and undermine elected leaders” as claimed by the MP.
“The meeting was formal, my office received a letter of invitation from the Deputy President and above other senior elected South Rift leaders were also invited to attend the function,” Mutai said.
The meeting organized by Kericho senator Charles Keter and his Bomet counterpart Wilfred Lessan also turned controversial after Bomet governor Isaac Ruto and his Kericho counterpart Paul Chepkwony subbed it allegedly over the manner of the invitation.
Speaking to the press outside the Assembly Chambers, Mutai revealed that during the Sugoi meeting they had only concentrated on development issues besides it being a get-to-know- each-other forum for the South Rift leaders after the gruelling last election.
The Speaker also wondered whether it was right for any right thinking person to snub an invite extended by a national leader of Ruto’s calibre.
By NIKKO TANUI, The Standard
