Defiant Alfred Keter won’t apologise or resign

What you need to know:

  • An embarrassing film posted on YouTube on Sunday shows the MPs threatening police officers at the weighbridge with the sack if they did not release the truck.
  • Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau wants the MP to identify officers he claims asked for bribes.
  • Mr Keter said they went to the weighbridge after being told the officers ‘were behaving in a manner suggesting they wanted a bribe’.

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and his nominated counterpart Sunjeev Birdi will not apologise or resign over Saturday’s incident in which they were filmed insulting and threatening weighbridge officers in Gilgil, Nakuru.

This is in spite of continued condemnation of their unbecoming behaviour by Jubilee officials.

Mr Keter used unprintable words against the officers who had detained a drilling truck belonging to a company associated with Ms Birdi for lack of a permit for vehicles with abnormal loads.

The MPs said they were not apologetic about the insults, which they said “were necessary to fight off the bribery demands by the officers”.

An embarrassing film posted on YouTube on Sunday shows the MPs threatening police officers at the weighbridge with the sack if they did not release the truck.

CANNOT APOLOGISE

The two, who spoke at Parliament on Monday, refused to retract words they used in addressing the adamant officers.

“How can I apologise to criminals. I cannot do that. They only gave the six minutes not the one hour we engaged them. They also provoked us so we could overreact in order to label us big-headed, arrogant and name-dropping. I have never reacted like that before,” said Mr Keter.

He added: “I did that because of the challenges we faced with corruption. We want to ensure the government is free from corruption.”

Ms Birdi said their actions were misinterpreted, claiming they were only fighting corruption.

“The issue of concern here is the level of corruption in government institutions. This is denying people (a) good business environment. Were we supposed to keep quiet about what was happening?” she asked.

WILL NOT RESIGN

In an interview on NTV on Sunday night, the two said they would not resign.

“If I resign, many Kenyans will die because no one will be left to fight for them. We will be able to rid the country of corruption if we were to have many Keters. Right now, we only have about 10 of us,” said Mr Keter.

Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau wants the MP to identify the officers he claimed asked for bribes.

“If the MP was a man of integrity, he would have gone to the relevant authority and pursued action against the officers,” Mr Kamau said.

Mr Keter said they went to the weighbridge after being told the officers "were behaving in a manner suggesting they wanted a bribe". The two MPs claimed the officers demanded between Sh10,000 and Sh50,000 to release the truck.