Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kericho Town.
KIPSIGIS leaders have praised the Nyatike MP Edick Omondi Anyanga for his recent call that the Luos and Kipsigis neighboring communities should continue living in peace and harmony.
Speaking in Kericho Town the leaders appealed to MPs from the neighboring communities to emulate Nyatike MP and preach only the gospel of peace and love among Kenyans of diverse ethnic background. The MPs the leaders said, must refrain from making inflammatory utterances in public place and gathering which could fuel communal hatred.
Pastor Hezron Cheruiyot of the Methodist Church in Chilchila Division within Kipkellion constituency and Councilor Nicholas Tum of Kericho Municipality said they were pleased with Nyatike MP statement that the differences between the Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto were personal and therefore must not be used to incite the Kalenjin and the Luos into hatred and hostility.
“Elected leaders must guard their tanks against making provocative utterances that could be construed by the general public that could cause confusion and misunderstandings among the neighboring communities. The Kipsigis and the Luos share the common border between Nyanza and Rift Valley and have lived harmoniously from the time immemorial and should be allowed to continue living and working together in the interest of the country.
Pastor Cheruiyot said he regretted an incident in Kericho Town in which an MP from Luo-Nyanza who had accompanied the Prime Minister Raila Odinga was heckled and shouted down and forced to cut short his speech when he made some incoherent utterances which did not pleased the audience who were mainly the Kipsigis people.
Leaders should always weigh their words before making public utterance. Those who have nothing in their mind to say before the multi ethnic audiences should shut up,”said the pastor.
Councilor Nicholas Tum of Kericho Municipality said ODM was still very strong in the South Rift despite of claims by ODM rebel Kalenjin MPs allied to the Eldoret North MP William Ruto that the community in the region has ditched the party.
Tum said some of the MPs representing various constituencies in Kipsigisland who are allied to William Ruto are in for a big shock come the next polls. Those who are persistently attacking the party leader Raila Oodinga whenever they opened their mouths will lose their seats comes the next polls. That is the reason why a good number of the incumbent MPs are scrambling for the two seats allocate for the region in the Senate.
Coun. Tum appealed to the ODM supreme leader Raila Odinga to pick the Road Minister Franklin Bett as his running-mate during the next general election.
He said owing to Bett’s steadfast and unswerving loyalty to the party and his contribution, he would be good bait for votes catching in the South Rift if picked as Raila’s running-mate.
Tum cautioning members of the Kipsigis community against making hasty decision of joining UDM saying that party is still embroiled in prolonged and protracted legal tussle before the court over its leadership. If the community is fooled about with propaganda to abandon ODM, it will be sidelined by the next government which will consign the community to the political periphery.
At the same time survey conducted by this writer in both Kericho and Bomet Counties indicated that members of the Kipsigis community, a sub-tribe of the larger Kalenjin ethnic groups are slowly drifting back to KANU.The Kipsigis is the most populous Kalenjin sub-tribe with more than 1.3 million voters.
The community occupied the fertile region in the highlands southwest of the Rift Valley a region which is agriculturally rich with sufficient annual rainfall which is conducive for tea and coffee growing.
In the year 2007, this community voted for the ODM on man-to-man and gave the party MPS in all the eight constituencies of Kipkellion, Ainamoi, Belgut, Buret, Konoin, Chepalungu, Bomet and Sotik. The region gave the party’s presidential candidate Raila Odinga almost 100 per cent. It also handed the ODM an overwhelming victory in the neighboring Kuresoi constituency in Molo district and another constituency in Rongai where members of the community are the majority of the inhabitants.
However, due to what is seemingly to be irreconcilable differences between the party leader Raila Odinga and his deputy William Ruto the party’s influence I the region is drastically reduced. If the ODM could managed to recruit credible new leaders and support their candidature in the election in all the constituencies, this time around there will be 10 electoral areas after the creation of two extra constituencies in Sigowet in Blgut and Chilchila in Kipkellion, it could still garner enough vote to enable it win at least between five and six seats in Parliament.. Similar percentage could be retained in civic wards within the two Counties.
The party which is likely to slash in the flesh of the ODM is KANU and not UDM. The party of independence could perform well in Kipsigisland if it will back the Vice President Stephen Kalonzo musyoka.
The common saying in the region is that the Vic President who had served in the KANU government under the retired President Daniel Arap Moi for a long time and only ditched the party in 2002 has since maintained a guarded tank and has never publicly issued any statement that is viewed as derogatory and despising Moi in similar in similar fashion like other former KANU luminaries have done.
Members of the Kipsigis community are, however, worried about political instability and endless internal wrangling in KANU pitting the party national chairman Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and other leaders like his deputy Gideon Moi and the secretary-general Nck Salatt.
The community is not comfortable with the idea of having another Kikuyu president after Mwai Kibaki, and if there is no solution on sight within the ODM within the next three months, they switch their support to Kalonzo Musyoka.This is because of the hurdles facing William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta in connection with pending criminal cases with the ICC causes looming large on their path..
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