News Analysis By Kipsiele Arap Sugurut in Kericho Town.

Rumors and speculations making the round in this tea rich region says the pressure is mounting on the Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Kalenjin MPs allied to him to either abandon his UDM and the G7 alliance and rejoin the Orange Democratic Movement {ODM}.

The majority of the inhabitants of the two votes rich Counties of Kericho and Bomet are members of the most populous Kipsigis sub-tribe of the larger Kalenjin ethnic groups believes and maintains that their community interests would be best served by an DM government.

This particular community has been close to the government for the best of the 48 years ever since Kenya attained its political independence in 1963. At the independence, the community had rallied behind the defunct KADU party which was beaten hand down at the 1963 elections by the former ruling KANU party. But immediately soon after independence, KADU voluntarily dissolved itself and its leaders rejoined KANU and thereafter this community has all along been close to the government.

As far as the current politics of the South Rift region is concern it is pointing to the direction of the community which is heading to the cold due to inconsistencies of its leaders, especially the MPs representing the various constituencies located with the two counties.

This community, however, believes that by rejoining and strengthening of the ODM is the only sensible way which could assure the community of a place in the next government.

“We have been in the cold long enough and we now want to be part of the next government”, said a Kericho businessman Joseph Rono, adding “we do not see any possibility of the G7 or any other amorphous alliances beating the ODM at the next polls,”.

The evidence of the latest move and pressure on Ruto to soft his stance towards the Prime Minister could be mirrored on his reconciliatory public pronouncement, his last week surprise visit to Kisumu City,an area which is the bedrock of the ODM.

Ruto had told thousands of audience both at Nyahera, Kajulu and Kondele suburb that his political differences with the Prime Minister Raila Odinga were persona and as such should not be construed by anyone to fuel animosity between the Kalenjins and the Luos and that the two neighboring communities should continue living and working together harmoniously.. These remarks were well taken by local political pundits and observers as meaning that Ruto is ready and willing to reconsider his working relations with Raila Odinga afresh.

Pundits believe that Ruto seemed to have seen the light on the other side of the tunnel and is just about to make an abrupt about-turn towards the ODM. His name is still registered at the offices of the registrar of political parties as the deputy leader of the ODM.

The majority of Kipsigis people want Ruto back in ODM early enough for the preparation for the impending general election. Alternatively, they say, he should form an alliance with ODM instead of PNU and its allies. “Forming some alliances with politicians from the Mt Kenya region would not augur well for us, because of the expansionist attitudes of the people of that region”, said one civic leader there.

The civic leaders in Kericho have cited the recent move by some of the majority shareholders in the KETAPA to have the tea packing factory move from Kericho to Nairobi, an action which could have had adverse effect on the local community because hundreds of workers at the plant, which is located a few kilometer east of Kericho Town where many works from their rural home in the Kipsigis reserve land as an attempt to marginalize the community economically.

The former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta is among the majority shareholders in the plant, which was established in Keicho in the 1950 by the Brooke family that owns Brooke Bond Tea Company, which later sold it to the public in the 1970’s.

Originally KETEPA was the central tea packing plant handling made teas from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania until it was sold out to a private enterprise owned by shareholders in early 1970s. An attempt to dismantle the plant and move it to Nairobi was blocked by the Kipsigis people who insisted that they would be an alternative plant of the same nature to handle the tea from their region and would not allow their t to be transported all the way from Kericho to Nairobi for the purpose of packaging.

Other factors is that the Kipsigis people get along well with their neighbors, the Luos whose easy going lifestyle make them much more friendly. The Luos are known not to be interested in land grabbing or expansionists making them easy to handle. This particular community has never fought any land related tribal skirmishes and many Luo men and women works for the relatively wealthiest Kipsigis farmers an traders and are the one helping the Kipsigis to maintain their tea bushes scattered I the rural areas of Kericho and Bomet Counties,

A number of secret and behind the scene meeting have been held at the various parts of the South Rift region where issues such as long term political implications in connection with the community move to ditch the ODM were reportedly deliberated upon. At one such meetings and in the presence of Ruto, those in attendance had queried the rationale of ditching the ODM for UDM or other parties with speakers after speaker arguing that such a move would only weaken the community political bargaining power when it come the formation of the next government after the impending general elections.

Furthermore the Kipsigis believes that political hostilities between Raila and Ruto could hurt intra-tribal trades and cross border trades between the Kalenjins and the Luos which is booming all the year round. It has been reported that taking all these into considerations, even the most hardliner ant-ODM MPs in Kipsigis land such as the Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto have toned down their vehement opposition to Raila and have been heard

But when Ruto and his parliamentary colleagues from the region comes hard on Raila Odinga, the Luo workers seemed to be nursing a feeling on insecurity and shy away from the manual jobs in the tea farm, something which hurts the local farmers economically.

The two communities have lived harmoniously fro the immemorial and sharing cross border trades at Sondu, Muhoroni, Fort-Tennan, Soliat ,Koru and Kapsorok border markets and towns.

Moreover, the Luos are the mainstay of labor force in all the large scale tea plantations and factories owned by foreign multinational tea companies in Kericho and Bomet Counties.

The Kipsigis people are said to have refused to buy the Ruto contention that it was the Prime Minister Raila Odinga who instigated his prosecution at the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague.

One civic leader came strong in defense of the Prime Minister by dismissing the claims as far fetched propaganda aimed at slandering the good name of Raila Odinga. The civic leader Councilor Nicholas Tum of the Keicho Municipality reminded the Kipsigis that it was Raila Odinga who made the frantic effort to have those suspect in the cases of post elections violence be tried locally at home. An attempt which was vehemently scuttled by Ruto and his group in preference to the ICC arguing that by trying such cases locally the victim would not be treated to a fair trial. The group even went as far a staging the spirited opposition to the motion sponsored in Parliament by the government to that effect, which the Ruto’s group voted against.

“Raila is not Luis Moreno Ocampo nor has got anything to do with ICC therefore anyone linking him to the ICC cases is underestimating the intelligence of the Kenyan people,”said Coun. Tum.

He further disclosed that the community has already prepared the most credible parliamentary aspirants ready to take on the pro-Ruto MPs across the two counties and in all other elective positions in the entire South Rift regions, and most of them he added, have started feeling insecure not sure whether they will retain their seats or not.

Ends