Ruto allies now vow to topple Raila

The political battle between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and suspended Higher Education minister William Ruto is now headed to Parliament.

Mr Ruto and his allies are plotting to sponsor a motion seeking to topple Mr Odinga from the premiership, taking advantage of what they say are ODM’s reduced numbers in the House.

They argue that under the terms of the National Accord, the PM should be drawn from the majority party in Parliament, something they say the Orange party has lost with the rebellion of MPs mainly from Rift Valley.

Mr Ruto was on Saturday night expected to host more than 15 MPs drawn from the Rift Valley, Central, Eastern and Western provinces at his Sugoi rural home in Eldoret North to lay down strategies of countering the PM on the floor of the House starting this week.

His manoeuvres came at the end of a week in which Mr Ruto lost his place in the Cabinet after judges in the constitutional court ruled a fraud case against him can proceed. “We already have a team of MPs and legal experts scrutinising the National Accord to see if we can move a motion to remove him from that post,” said Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny.

“He was appointed prime minister because of the numbers he commanded but over 20 of us have since deserted him so he no longer has those numbers.” Mr Odinga’s spokesman Dennis Onyango immediately dismissed the effort as futile.

“The PM has nothing to do with Ruto’s troubles. The case against him began in 2004 and Raila is one of those who defended him on the grounds that the issues that had been raised at the time were mere allegations. When the courts made a ruling it became a matter of choosing the rule of law or the law of the jungle. The PM chose the rule of law.”

The Ruto camp has launched an onslaught on the PM in parts of the Rift Valley, claiming that Mr Odinga was the architect of the suspended Higher Education minister’s downfall. They see Parliament as the best battleground, with the first anti-Raila move being a motion to question his fitness to serve as PM having lost his parliamentary majority.

A law lecturer who declined to be named saying he did not want to be dragged into “politicians’ affairs” said the motion stood little chance of success. He said the disgruntled members were still technically ODM members, meaning the party’s numbers were intact until rebel MPs opted to step down from their parliamentary seats.

Mr Kutuny took the opposite view, saying they expected officials from over 70 ODM branches across the country allied to the suspended minister to discuss the motion. The meeting, Mr Kutuny said, would also consider ways of exerting pressure on the Judiciary to hear and determine the case in which the suspended minister is accused of irregularly selling a piece of land to a government parastatal.

Mr Ruto and four others, including Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita, face fraud charges over the alleged sale of a piece of land in Ngong forest to the Kenya Pipeline Company Ltd for a total of Sh272 million. The suspended minister allegedly received Sh96 million at various intervals during the alleged transaction.

The Sunday Nation learnt that the Ruto camp had earlier planned to hold a rally at 64 stadium in Eldoret town on Saturday to demonstrate their solidarity with the Eldoret North MP but were forced to call it off after President Kibaki and the PM suspended him on Tuesday.

“We were expecting over 80 MPs to attend but we had to change tack after he was suspended,” said Kamukunji MP Simon Mbugua.

“Raila is going to have it rough in Parliament, we will not give him time and space to breathe, we will fight him to the last man.” Similar sentiments were voiced by Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi and his Mutito counterpart Kiema Kilonzo, who vowed to stand by the suspended minister.

Both MPs were allied to the ‘No’ campaign spearheaded by Mr Ruto which unsuccessfully tried to block the endorsement of the new Constitution. The new battlelines emerged as Mr Ruto and Mr Odinga intensified their efforts to try to woo the Kalenjin vote.

Mr Ruto told crowds in the region that they had made a mistake to back the PM in 2007 and hinted they may form a new party ahead of 2012. “We boarded someone’s political vehicle last time, and it abandoned us in mid-sea. We will have ours this time round, and for your information I am almost done with the preparations. Stay tuned as soon we will have a bridge,” Mr Ruto said.

But Mr Odinga, speaking in Kapsabet, asked members of the Kalenjin community not to complain of being sidelined in government representation. The PM maintained that the community has been given key ministries in the coalition government.

“We have Agriculture, Roads, IndustrialiSation, and Higher Education occupied by your people. So we should stop politics of sideshows and focus on development because we had to share available seats with our PNU counterparts,” said Mr Odinga.

An aide to the PM said Mr Odinga was not having sleepless nights over the Ruto issue. He said Mr Ruto was a late supporter of the PM’s presidential bid in 2007 after he was forced to back him by ODM supporters in the Rift Valley. He pointed out that MPs such as Mr Kutuny had lost to the ‘Yes’ campaign in their own constituencies while Mr Ruto lost out in the polling centre where he voted.

Mr Kilonzo, the Mutito MP, said the Ruto camp was not shaken by the suspension and would continue backing him. “You know Ruto is my friend and I don’t run away from my friends when they are in problems, we will fully support him all the way,” he said.

The MPs are also said to be contemplating moving censure motions against two top ODM ministers allied to the PM over alleged scandals in their respective ministries. The two ministers are from Nyanza and Western provinces and are known to wield a lot of influence on the PM.

Mr Kutuny, however, denied that they were targeting the ministers simply because they are close to the PM. “We are not pursuing any personal vendetta but if a motion is brought against a minister and we see merit in it, we will support it,” he stated without confirming whether they were planning to move any such motion.

But even as the Ruto camp plotted the fightback, the PM’s camp remained unmoved, expressing confidence that Mr Odinga would prevail at the end of the day.