Writes Leo Odera Omolo in Kericho Town
The popular rumor making the round in Kericho Town and its environs is pointing out to the direction that the Prime Minister Rila Odinga should urgently consider the possibility of reshuffling his ODM party side in the coalition government in order to create the room for one of his loyal lieutenants among the MPs from the Kipsigis community to be elevated into a full cabinet slot.
Such a move would work well in favor of the ODM and could restore the community back on the Prime Minister and repair the damage inflicted by the soured relations with the section of Kalenjin MPs.
The MP whose name is being aggressively mentioned as the one ho deserves such appointment id Dr. Joyce Laboso who represented the unusually volatile Sotik borderline constituency, which is separating the Kipsigis and the Abagusii of Borabu district.
Cattle rustling business is till thriving in this region causing insecurity as the hostilities between the two neighboring communities continued unabated.
The community wants Raila to promote the Kipkellion MP Magerer Lang’at to fill one of the vacant ministerial slots in the coalition. Lang’at is currently an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Energy.
There is a strong suggestion that Laboso and Lang’at should be swabbed with Lang’at taking over the Ministry of Regional Development, which is currently held by the Westlands MP Fred Gumo who is also acting in the Ministry o Local Government. The local government portfolio was left vacant by the DPM Muslia Mudavadi who has since ditched the ODM and started his own UDF.
Laboso should fill the vacancy left by the late Joshua Orwa Ojode in the Ministry of Internal Security as an act of regional balancing.
The residents of the South rift region of the Rift valley province comprising of Kericho and Bomet counties also wants Raila Odinga to lift the suspension of the Minister for the Industrialization Henry Kosgey, arguing that his continued suspension is hurting ODM’s popularity in the Rift Valley, while the court case of the abuse of office is lingering within the courts for too long without the solution on sight.
Kosgey is the ODM party national chairman. He has remained steadfastly loyal to the party and its leadership despite of the fact that most of his Kalenjn fellow MPs from the Rift Valley have crossed over to other parties and joined the shaky and unpredictable URP of William Ruto
Another popular issue, which is rapidly winding its way into the public domain is the quest by the Road minister Franklin Bett, who is the Buret MP that he should be considered to be the running-mate of Rail Odinga in his presidential bid in 2013.
Residents say Bett has all that it takes to be a presidential running-mate ,having come from the votes rich Kipsigis land where the ODM could harvest as many votes as 2 million, he is the most suitable to be Raila’s number two in the impending presidential contest.
The statistics of the 2007 general elections indicated that members of the Kipsgis sub-tribe of the larger Kalenjin ethnic groups had casted as many vote as 1.3 million in nine parliamentary constituencies, namely Chepalungu, Kilgoris, Konoin, Buret, Sotik, Bomet, Belgut, Ainamoi, Kipkellion and Kuresoi in Molo.
ODM bagged nearly 100 per cent o votes casted in all eight constituencies in the Kipsigisland, and also in the two Diaspora based parliamentary electoral constituencies of Kuresoi and Kilgoris.
With the inclusion o youths who have acquired the new national identity cards for the new generation youths in the region which has since had two additional parliamentary seats as the result of the recent splitting o Belgut, and the creation of the new Sgowet, constituency, Kipkellion Eat and Kipkellion west, the provisional voting pattern which is being projected as likely to go up past 2 million marks.
Senior politicians in this region are up in arms demanding hat Raila Odinga should reward his loyal comrades by filling the vacant Ministerial slots in he government with members of the Kipsigis community.
At the same time the recent evens including hr locking out two prominent Kipsigis political personalities from representing Kenya as new MPs in he regional east African Legislative Assembly {EALA} allegedly sabotage by Ruto and Kalenjin MPs allied to the URP has dented the reputation and image of the Eldoret North mp William Ruto in this tea growing region.
Ruto’s popularity altogether with that of the fellow Kalenjin MPs allied to him from this region have suffered major political set-back and rekindled the old hostility between the Kipsigis and their closest cousins from the North Rift, the Nandis.
The two whose nominations to the EALA has has caused uproar in the region were he Bomet County councilor Donald N’eny {Tinget} who is a close political associate o Raila Odinga and the former Deputy Chief of the General Staff{who is the head of the UDM . The two were nominated by Raila Odinga’s ODM party. But Ruto and Kalenjn MPs allied to him made it known to the public that they were vehemently opposed to the appointment of the two as part of their well orchestrated grand plan of fighting Raila Odinga so that he could not succeed President Mwai Kibaki when the latter retire next year.
He scheme worked temporarily, but It has since boomeranged back on Ruto who is now facing massive rejection by member of the Kipsigis community. It has turned out to be a blessing to Raila in disguise as members of this particular community are now drifting back to the ODM and vowed to support Raila Odinga in his presidential bid.
Ends