Sudi: Voters will punish senators who removed Murkomen

With Deputy President William Ruto studiously silent on controversial changes to the Jubilee leadership in the Senate which saw two of his top lieutenants stripped of lucrative posts, vocal Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi has sought to fill the gap, taking aim at the party’s senators from the Rift Valley who participated in removals.

Mr Sudi, a close ally of the DP, has directed his anger at Senators Samson Cherargei (Nandi), Prof Margaret Kamar (Uasin Gishu) and Dr Michael Mbito (Trans Nzoia) whom he accused of betraying Mr Ruto, saying they will face the wrath of voters in the next elections. They were all elected on Jubilee Party tickets in the last polls.

POLITICAL RECKONING

"From the DP's backyard we know four senators who signed for the removal of Murkomen and Kihika at State House. They are Cherargei, Kamar and Mbito. Nandi senator scanned his signature," the Kapseret MP told the Nation, saying their time for political reckoning is coming.

The senators, except for Mr Cherargei, have neither publicly rejected or denied participating in last week’s State House meeting chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta that saw Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen and Majority Whip Susan Kihika dropped from the lucrative posts. They were replaced by Mr Samuel Phogisio (West Pokot) and Irungu Kang’ata (Muranga) respectively.

Nominated Senator Alice Milgo from Bomet was also said to have attended the meeting and approved the changes. She is set to be rewarded with a top House committee job when further changes are made this week.

Prof Kamar has not responded to the Nation’s request for a comment on whether she was at State House but last week, she confirmed that she signed a protest letter by Ms Kihika to the Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka following the changes.

KIHIKA'S LETTER

But she deflected questions on whether she had attended the State House meeting before appending her signature to Ms Kihika’s letter.

“I hear Sudi has been saying I was at State House. Ask him whom he was with at Kihika’s office when we signed the letter to the Speaker (Ken Lusaka),” Prof Kamar recently told Chamgei FM, a Kalenjin radio station.

Mr Sudi confirmed he was at Ms Kihika’s office when Prof Kamar signed the letter but that they asked her to sign it despite knowing she had already appended her signature to the State House one.

DECLINED OFFER

Prof Kamar also revealed that she declined an offer to replace Mr Murkomen after being approached by people she refused to name.

“I will not say who approached me but it is true I was approached some months ago to replace him. Murkomen is my neighbour and I did not think it was right to take it,” said Prof Kamar, who is seen by those in the DP’s camp as neutral and not a political sycophant.

But Mr Cherargei has said that he could not be party to the changes which he described as “illegal and immoral”.

The senator called a press conference in Eldoret the same day the changes were effected, saying it was wrong for the President to target DP Ruto’s allies.

SACK ALL

“The President seems interested in sacking all those supporting or perceived to support the DP. If this is so, he should gather all of them across the country and send them home so he can focus on delivering the Big Four agenda and properly respond to the coronavirus,” he said in a scathing response to the changes.

Mr Sudi claimed the Mr Cherargei did not attend the State House meeting in person but “scanned his signature and sent it to confirm his presence virtually”. Mr Cherargei has rebuffed the claims.

Mr Mbito did not respond to the Nation’s inquiries on the issue.