Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter is controversial but Kenyans were surprised when he dominated the headlines this week on allegations of Treasury Bill fraud.
The second-term MP is affiliated to Jubilee Party in which he caused problems over the leadership of committees.
A look at the MP's history shows he caused troubles even at
Kapsabet High School where his political ambitions were birthed.
Read:
MANY TROUBLED YEARS
Keter was brought up in Ollessos village, Nandi County,
in a family of six — four boys and two girls.
He attend Cheplelachbei Primary School and then Kapsabet High School where he was
the
ringleader of many strikes.
According to an interview with the Eve Woman magazine while in form one, he is said to have mobilised students to engage in a strike and was punished with a week-long suspension.
In form three, he sneaked out with his friends to have fun and was subsequently suspended.
He was later re-admitted but expelled in form four after harassing a cook who failed to give students food, forcing him to write his KCSE examinations outside the school.
Despite the cases of indiscipline, Keter was among those who performed well and secured a slot at Egerton University. But he was expelled in his
second year after leading a strike to oppose tuition
increments.
In the protests, the custodian's office was set on fire and Keter accused of being behind this. He
moved to court to challenge his expulsion but the administration withdrew the case before it was
heard.
He was then reinstated.
Keter was elected the university’s union vice chair in the third year and within that year, he became the chair following the expulsion of the then chairman.
He was expelled later on after leading another strike that saw the university close down for a while.
STRATEGIC MOVES
In 2002, Keter and others who had been punished by the university
formed Narc Youth Conference under which they campaigned for former President Mwai Kibaki.
All the members of the group were either on suspension or had been expelled.
Th group had a Memorandum of Understanding with Kibaki - that he would reinstate all of them to the university because. The President honoured this promise.
After completing his studies at the university, Keter went back to the village but later moved to Nairobi where he engaged in businesses.
He worked as a matatu tout at some point and he later managed Eastleigh number nine matatus.
In 2007, he made his first political move by vying for the Starehe parliamentary seat. He lost the race but tried against in 2013, when he became Nandi Hills MP.
MORE TROUBLE UNDER JUBILEE PARTY
In his first term as a legislator, Keter landed himself in trouble when a video circulated on social media of him abusing and
threatening police officers manning Gilgil weighbridge on Nairobi-Nakuru highway.
In the 2015 incident, he
allegedly spat expletives in the company of then Nominated MP Sonia Birdi, whose truck had been detained because it lacked an exemption permit as required by law.
The MP later accused the government of failing to curb corruption in the Standard Gauge Railway contract. Since then, he has been perceived as a thorn in President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party.
On various occasions, the MP has been on record criticising the Executive for meddling in the business of the August House.
His continuous attacks on Uhuru's government saw him announce in 2016 that he had quit the party as there was "too much graft".
Keter launched a scathing attack on Uhuru and Deputy President William Ruto
saying the country’s economy was collapsing because of corruption.
Likening the alleged graft in the government to cancer, he said: “You can quote me on this. Anyone you see supporting Jubilee is either stupid or corrupt."
“The other name of Jubilee is corruption and you cannot describe corruption in Kenya without calling it Jubilee. I mean Jubilee and corruption are one and the same,” he added.
Keter later warned that Jubilee could lose the 2017 presidential election if the litany of corruption cases and massive loss of public funds were not resolved.
“This government has two sets of people. Those who are too busy corrupting and those who are too lazy to perform,” he said.
Keter says he will
defend his seat either as an independent candidate or under another party.
Read:
The MP has also warned Kericho residents to be wary of Jubilee's "false" promises of development projects to win support their support. He claimed the ruling coalition will halt lined up projects should they win.
See:
'MORE THINGS FALLS APART'
Keter later mended the broken bridges with the ruling party and defended his seat on the party's ticket.
Things, however, fell apart again after he and three other MPs
defied a directive to relinquish their
positions in National Assembly committees.
Keter, Moiben’s Silas Tiren, Marakwet MP David Bowen and Emgwen's Alex Kosgey
defied the orders and were summoned to State House as a result.
Read:
Keter's woes escalated after Jubilee MPs forcefully voted him and the others
out of the committees. This saw him attack the President for meddling and bulldozing Parliament by taking actions that are against the law.
The politicians
further filed a petition at the Court seeking redress over the matter.
Keter troubles carry on.
On Friday, February 16, he was dramatically arrested at the Central Bank of Kenya alongside two businessmen for allegedly forging Treasury Bills worth Sh633 million.
After spending three nights at Muthaiga police cells, they were charged
on Monday
with 11 counts ranging from forgery, uttering and making false documents, and conspiracy to defraud Central Bank of Kenya Sh286 million.
Keter and directors Madat Saburali and Arthur Sakwa were also accused of presenting a fake T-Bill that will cost CBK Sh347 million.
They were presented before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi who released each one of them on Sh2 million cash bail or Sh5 million bond.
The case will be heard on June 4.
Read: