News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo in Kericho Town.

The sacking of the former populist former deputy Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen (Rtd) John Arap Koech as the chairman of the Poverty Eradication Commission seemed to have placed the last nail on the coffin of the ODM in the South Rift.
General Koech was sacked last week in a letter signed by the permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 Prof.Edward Sambili
The reason given for Gen. Koech’s sacking was said to be connected to his recent appointment as the National Chairman of the United Democratic Movement (UDM)
The sacking is said to have been readily sanctioned by the Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga.
This is the man who was in charge of Raila Odinga’s campaign in the entire Kipsigis region during the 2007 general election. And his abrupt removal from the government body is now reviewed as betrayal. It has worsen Raila’s already fast deteriorating popularity in the region where he was voted on man to man.
The dismissal of the populist Gen. Koech has elicited a lot of controversy among the Kipsigis political elite who have called the community to severe its link with the Prime Minister.
It is General Koech who was credited for having mobilized the populous Kipsigis sub-tribe of the larger Kalenjin ethnic groups and using his combined military tactics and eloquence sold Raila to the entire community. The region voted for Raila on man to man, in his presidential election victory, which many people believes to have been stolen through the manipulation by the disbanded ECK.
Gen. Koech contested the Ainamoi parliamentary seat in 2007 but was rigged
out in a scheme suspected to have been masterminded by the Minister for
Agriculture William Ruto and the Assistant Minister for Energy Charles Keter
during the ODM preliminaries.
The general is believed to have won but was robbed of his election victory. Ruto
and Keter secretly campaigned for the lateDavid Too,who eventually won the
seat, but whose life was cut shot with an assassin’s bullets within only a month
after taking the oath of office. David Too was murdered a month after taking his parliamentary oath.
In the consequent by-election that followed Ruto and Keter ganged up and openly supported the late David Too’s younger brother Benjamin Langat who eventually won the by-election which was much flawed sparking off strong protests by the General and his supporters. It was later rumored that Raila had ordered for a repeat of the ODM’S primary, but this was vehemently opposed by Ruto and his friends.
Gen. Koech appealed for a repeat exercise but nothing was done to correct the anomalies experienced in the By-election and soon after loosing the Ainamoi seat for the second time through ODM primary, Gen. Koech threw his weight behind the ODM candidate Dr. Chepkwony.
During the height of the 2007 presidential election campaign, Raila Odinga shuttled in the entire Kipsigis region with the populist General by his side. Raila told several rallies held across the Kipsigis land that the General was supposed to have been appointed Chief of General Staff (CGS), but it was the PNU and the Mt. Kenya politicians who had him removed.
And now that Raila’s right hand man in Kipsigis region has been tossed around, the PM’s days in the region as a popular leader is numbered.
The sacking came in the wake of discontent and tension which has seen the PM being ditched by six MPs from the region, who have opted to join the amorphous and loose political alliance between the Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and the Minister for Agriculture William Ruto.
During Raila Odinga’s recent tour of the North Rift region, the majority of the MPs from this region kept away from the Prime Minister’s entourage except the three cabinet Ministers, Dr. Sally Kosgey {Higher Education}, Henry Kosgei {Industrialisation} and William Rutoi{Agriculture}. Raila formidable critics like Joshua Kutuny {Cheranganyi} were nowhere to be seen. None of the Kipsigis MPs accompanied the PM to the North Rift.
Out of nine MPs from the Kipsigis region, six have already joined William Ruto’s bandwagon in the crusade to promote the Kikuyu Kalenjin new political alliance which is being championed by the Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Agricultural Minister William Ruto. Some of the Kalenjin MPs had made disparaging remarks against Raila Odinga in public rallies addressed by Ruto dismissing the PM as a leader with no vision for Kenya.
The Prime Minister can now only count on the support of only three MPs in the entire region. These are Buret MP, Franklin Bett who is the Roads Minister, Bomet MP, Mrs Betrice Kones who is an Assistant Minister for Home Affairs and the Sotik MP, Joyce Laboso Abonyo.
The MPs who have already ditched Raila Odinga include the former powerful PS in the office of the President in-charge of Provincial Administration and Internal Security Zakayo K. Cheruiyot who is the MP for Kuresoi in Molo District.
Cheruiyot a moderate politician who is usually calm and careful with his words had attacked Raila Odinga at a public rally saying the PM had lost the ability to lead ODM and as such he should now quit the party.

Highly esteemed and valued by the community for his attractive track record of development during his tenure in the Office of the President as the PS. Cheruiyot has been keeping a low profile ever since he entered the August house in January 2008 on ODM’s ticket but he has a lot of political clout among the members of Kipsigis community. His react ion and attitudes towards contentious issues reflected the general feeling of the Kipsigis people.
Among those MPs now considered to have parted the company with the PM are Dr. Julius Kones (Koneio), Isaack K. Ruto {Chepalungus}, Magerer Lang’at (Kipkelion), Benjamin Langat (Ainamoi) and Charles Keter (Belgut).
As soon as the news of Gen. Koech’s sacking reached Kericho town, many people were in a state of shock, people could be seen talking to each other in low tones and small groups criticizing the PM for having betrayed the community. But within two or three days, Raila visited Bureti district where he officiated during the home coming party of the Minister for Roads Franklin Bett. The visit, however, fell short of attracting huge crowds of enthusiastic supporters.,
One elderly man from Chepseon Market was heard shouting “matiany kegochin kura lemindet kogeny en kenyit ap 2012 amun kogongelel chito ” (we should never vote for that Luo again in 2012 because he is not a reliable person].
Reacting to Gen Koech’s removal from the Poverty Eradication Commission, a prominent Kipsigis politician William Kipkemoi Arap Kettienya (Chemosit) blasted Raila Odinga saying he had short changed the community.
“Our future with Raila will be pegged on what he has done to the community. The Kipsigis have been sidelined in all Government and parastatal appointments

In the recent appointment only Francis Sigei, a former Nairobi PC was made an ambassador, but it has since emerged that his younger brother who contested the Bomet parliamentary By-election and lost to Mr. Kones is married to the sister of Mrs Ida Raila Odinga. This has now confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt the numerous complaints from other regions Luo Nyanza included that the PM is someone who always gives preferences to his relatives only when it comes to government appointments and therefore has no interest of all Kenyans at heart.
Mr. Kettienya said Gen. Koech deserves some amount of respect, he should not be tossed around because he had done a lot in winning the hearts of the Kipsigis electorate for ODM in 2007.
We have lost our confidence in the PM because he has stuck with our minority cousins from the North Rift. But two of his close political associates in Nandi, the Higher Education Minister Dr. Sally Kosgey and the Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey both put together have very limited voting strength and therefore will not bail Raila out of his seemingly inevitable presidential election defeat in 2012.
Across section of people interviewed in Kericho, Litein and Sotik believes Raila has lost political direction by having short changed the populous Kipsigis Community in the cabinet appointment. Many people from the region have been sacked from Government jobs.
“We now consider the removal of Gen. Koech from Government service as the last nail on the ODM’s coffin in our region. We shall now all support the UDM and use the party as the tool of future power bargain”, said one MP who wished his name to be kept secret.
The most contentious and volatile issue of the planned eviction of close to 20,000 families of squatters in the Mau Forest Complex is among the numerous issues, which has brought the Kipsigis community and the Prime Minister at loggerhead.
The Kipsigis people also detested the arrogant and loose talking attitudes of Raila’s Luo supporters who are known to be issuing negative comments looking down on the community as that which is backward.
Despite of frantic effort by Mr. Odinga to regain his lost glory in Kipsigis region with juicy public utterances during his tour of the region this week, this is a case of the “spilt milk” and it will be an uphill task for the PM to regain his former glory in the region.
Local political pundits says that out of 31 ODM MPs from the Kalenjin region, the PM can now only bank on the support of a handful of them, the rest have joined William Ruto in search for a greener pasture in Kalenjin Kikuyu alliance.
ENDS
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 05:52:18 -0700 [07:52:18 AM CDT]
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: RAILA’S FUTILE ATTEMPT TO REGAIN FOOTHOLD IN THE SOUTH RIFT REGION HIT THE ROCK AS THE KIPSIGIS PROTEST AGAINST GEN. KOECH’S SACKING BACKFIRE ON ODM.