NO one has ever mentioned him directly, but the perception that Kipchumba Onesmus Murkomen is a member of the much envied Sky Team cabal of the Jubilee coalition is never far away.
The cabal, which is described as “a cartel of two senators, an MP and brokers” had at one time infused fear into public servants into “making decisions on procurement, hiring and spending on big-money projects.”
Further, it was claimed, the cabal had a penchant of invoking President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy William Ruto’s names to
intimidate ministry accounting officers into carrying out their wishes.
“The whole thing was a creation of the media,” the 37-year old, Elgeyo Marakwet senator and the recently appointed deputy leader of Majority in the House.
“The Sky Team was a nebulous thing it never existed... It was a perception pushed by those who believe that some of us cannot use helicopters because we are poor. There is a general feeling that that if you are from a poor background you must remain poor.
I am taunted on a daily basis by Gideon Moi and Nicholas Biwott about my class.They think that I should forever remain poor.”
“I receive invitations for a minimum of 15 events every weekend in my county and since I cannot attend to all of them I choose which one to attend. Pooling resources is our pragmatic way of making the most out of such situations because we cover as much aground as possible.”
Yet, he, alongside Aden Duale and Kithure Kindiki have in recent times been condemned because of the condescending manner they speak every time they come across a microphone.
To Jubilee critics, the triumvirate represent everything awry with the ruling coalition because they have this tendency to lecture the public.
But Murkomen disagrees with this generalisation: “I don’t quarrel my audience neither do I use public forums to insult those whose opinion is oppositeof mine.
I have never engaged in hate speech because I have a very clear choice of words whenever I attend rallies.
No one has complained about the way I speak and if there is perception that I quarrel, then I can only conclude I arises out of a complete misunderstanding.”
When not engaged in politics, the senator, an ardent football fan, is most likely to be watching a football match in the English Premier League.
He supports Manchester United.
He was the striker for his high school football team and played competitively when he joined the University of Nairobi.