Kosgei criticises Rift Valley MPs

Higher Education minister Sally Kosgei on Monday accused Rift Valley MPs allied to Agriculture minister William Ruto of undermining other leaders in the province.

Dr Kosgei said that a week ago, the MPs called a rally in her constituency at which she was not invited and criticised her for not supporting Mr Ruto.

“Some leaders from Rift Valley held a meeting in Kapsabet where they appealed to all ODM MPs to rally behind Mr Ruto. They claimed that some of us boycotted the meeting, which is not true.

“I do not gate-crash meetings to which I am not invited,” she declared in her Aldai constituency.

Dr Kosgei’s salvo was aimed at a group that has been holding rallies in the region to drum up support for Mr Ruto and to challenge the ODM over claims that it failed to reward the region for its support in the 2007 General Election.

Dr Kosgei told the MPs to stop criticising their colleagues for not supporting Mr Ruto and said she would not join alliances blindly. Instead, she would work with leaders keen to see ODM take over power.

“In 2002, we formed an alliance and supported leaders who never made it to State House... this time I will not support an alliance which has no backing from voters,” she said.

Torch bearer

The MPs, among them Magerer Langat (Kipkelion), Julius Kones (Konoin), Joshua Kutuny (Cherangany), Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu), Benjamin Lagat (Ainamoi) and David Koech (Mosop), accused Prime Minister Raila Odinga of failing to reward the region with key government jobs.

The MPs fell short of declaring that Mr Ruto would be their torch bearer in 2012.

On Monday, it emerged that the aim of the campaigns by MPs is to pressure Mr Odinga to stop working with Dr Kosgei and Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey.

“He (Ruto) wants to prove that Henry Kosgey and Sally Kosgei, who are Raila’s allies, have no following so he should dump them and deal with him,” said a source close to the PM.

The rallies come amid talk of a new alliance between Mr Ruto and his Finance counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta.

However, Dr Kosgei and Regional Development minister Fred Gumo expressed scepticism at reports of the alliance.

Mr Gumo described the reports as hot air, saying that Mr Ruto has denied ever making such plans. He said the talk was a pet subject of first-term MPs seeking media publicity.

“These young politicians enjoy being quoted in the media,” he said.

Nominated MP Musa Sirma said the alliance would only work if Mr Kenyatta agreed to rally his community behind Mr Ruto.

“The only alliance we can support is if Mr Kenyatta tells his people to support Mr Ruto. But we know that his (Kenyatta’s) community does not support other communities when it comes to elections,” he said.

And on Sunday, Mr Odinga held a rally in Keiyo South where he criticised people claiming the Rift Valley got a raw deal.

Next government

“No one should exploit the scarcity of jobs in the country to incite certain communities against some leaders,” he said.

The PM warned MPs from the region against joining alliances which were likely to reduce ODM’s chances of forming the next government.

“Appointments to the civil service and other government positions should not be politicised. There are no vacant positions at the moment, but balance will be observed when they do arise,” he said.

The PM had chosen Keiyo South in Rift Valley as the venue to face the voters in the region and reply to all accusations that had been directed at him for the last two weeks.