Face-off: Raila, Ruto feud goes to House
Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Eldoret North MP William Ruto on Wednesday exchanged angry words in Parliament over the implementation of the Constitution and the trial of the Ocampo Four at The Hague.
Facing-off from opposite sides of the Chamber, the former political allies traded words on campaign propaganda and the reasons for the International Criminal Court taking two cases related to 2008 post election violence. (Read: Raila denies role in Uhuru, Ruto ICC cases)
Speaker Kenneth Marende was forced to intervene time after time as the MPs allied to the two constantly shot to their feet in defence of their leaders.
The afternoon session had just gathered pace after Question Time, with Mr Odinga taking to the Floor to issue his weekly statement on government policies.
On Wednesday, he spoke of the need for MPs to pass Bills on devolution and land, which have to be passed in 10 days, rounding up his statement with an announcement that Parliament, not just him and President Kibaki, would have the final say on the General Election date.
Trouble started when Mr Ruto asked Mr Odinga to clarify utterances that those who opposed the passing of the Constitution should not seek leadership positions come the elections.
“Can the Prime Minister clarify whether this is the policy of the government that those who exercised their democratic rights to vote No during the referendum should not be allowed to participate in the elections or is it just his campaign propaganda?” demanded Mr Ruto.
Mr Odinga denied that he had called for the disenfranchisement of those who opposed the new constitution, but added that those who spearheaded the No campaign could not be trusted to implement it.
“All I have said is that if you stood up and engaged the public in propaganda that if the new constitution is passed, homosexuality will be allowed in this country; that if the new constitution is passed, women will be allowed to abort and that there will be wards for abortion in our hospitals ... I have said that if you did not believe in the constitution, can you be trusted to implement it? You can only implement what you believe in,” Mr Odinga responded.
The reply prompted Mr Ruto to rise on a point of order, accusing the PM of evading his question.
He insisted that Mr Odinga categorically tells the house whether it was government policy or his own propaganda.
At this point, Mr Odinga stated that while it was not government policy to lock out those who voted No, he had a right to ask Kenyans not to elect those who opposed the new constitution in the way some politicians had been moving around the country telling Kenyans that they would unite to ensure he is not elected during the next elections.
PNU Nominated MP George Nyamweya dismissed the PM’s arguments, arguing that all leaders in government and Parliament had taken an oath to defend and protect the Constitution.
“Whether we voted Yes or No does not matter, it is now our Constitution,” he said.
In the course of the exchanges, the issues of trials of the Ocampo Four by the ICC came up, with Mr Odinga defending himself against claims that he prodded The Hague to investigate and try those behind the 2008 post election violence.
Mr Ruto, Deputy Prime Ministrer Uhuru Kenyatta, former public service head Francis Muthaura and radio presenter Joshua Sang are facing indictment by the ICC.
Mr Odinga said that on the contrary, the government had gone out of its way to initiate mechanisms for a local trial, only for Mr Ruto’s allies to shoot down the initiative.
“Mr Isaac Ruto is on record clearly saying that ‘do not be vague, let’s go to the Hague’, as a government, we had tried very hard to establish a local tribunal so that our people could be tried here in Kenya where we could even forgive them and forget,” said Mr Odinga.
Not recorded
The Chepalungu MP denied the allegations and challenged the PM to table the Hansard report to prove that he had made the utterances.
Mr Odinga claimed that Mr Ruto had made the remarks when the proceedings of the House were not being recorded verbatim as Parliament had gone into a division to vote on the motion.
The Eldoret North MP, William Ruto, however, disputed that Mr Odinga supported the formation of a local tribunal, and challenged him to state whether a letter allegedly authored by ODM Secretary General Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o to the ICC calling for the prosecution of the ICC suspects had blessings.
Mr Marende had a rough time controlling emotions as the Eldoret North MP rose on another point of order to accuse the PM of moving around the country hurling insults at his political rivals.
But in his rejoinder, Mr Odinga accused Mr Ruto of moving round the country to conduct prayer rallies yet they had failed to organise any prayers for internally displaced persons.
“Why haven’t they also held prayers for the IDPs? Why don’t they say that they will hold their prayers today, and tomorrow, they hold another prayer rally for the IDPs?” Mr Odinga charged.
To which Mr Ruto hit back: “If he really cares for the IDPs, why has he not organised prayers for them? Nobody has stopped you from organising prayers for them.”
As tempers boiled over, the speaker was forced to caution Mr Isaac Ruto and Heritage minister William Ole Ntimama for breaching the house rules.
The Chepalungu MP had accused the PM of wasting public resources globe-trotting.
He wondered what the PM was doing at a recent heads of state and government meeting.
“He is neither a head of state or a head of government,” Mr Ruto told the house.
Mr Ntimama on his part had rose on a point of information for Mr Odinga, only to accuse Mr Ruto and his allies of raising political tension by calling for the censure of Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo.
