Nairobi senator Johnson Sakaja has told his Elgeyo Marakwet counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen to stop rubbishing President Uhuru Kenyatta's directives.
In a statement on Friday, he said Uhuru is the Jubilee leader and any aggrieved member should use internal party mechanisms to address issues.
“Inciting Kenyans against the President's plans is unacceptable. Jubilee leaders should not undermine the Building Bridges Initiative and the war on corruption," Sakaja said.
He was reacting to sentiments by Murkomen
that Raila was working with unnamed government officials to scuttle the Deputy President William Ruto’s 2022 bid.
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Murkomen, a staunch ally of Ruto,
spoke in Narok on Thursday.
"There are people who recently joined the government through the backdoor and are colluding with state officials to remove people from Mau," Murkomen said.
"In their memorandum, which led to a peace deal, one of the agenda items was to evict people from Mau so as to create a wedge between the settlers and their leaders," he added.
Murkomen said the evictions were geared towards scuttling Deputy President William Ruto’s 2022 bid, by turning the affected communities against him.
The Senator was addressing evictees at Koitoben in Melelo ward, Narok South constituency.
He was accompanied by nine Jubilee MPs. The leaders told the evicted people to return to the forest.
Sakaja termed the remarks disingenuous, underhand and disrespectful to the President.
He said by reaching out to Raila during the March 9 handshake, the President sought a political ceasefire with his political nemesis.
The Senator added that Uhuru wants to create an enabling environment for implementation of the Big Four agenda.
“Continued and unwarranted attacks against the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga by Jubilee leaders will undermine these efforts. It is unfortunate the attacks are by leaders of high standing in the party,” Sakaja said.
The Nairobi senator said the statements must be condemned. They can easily take the country back to toxic politics that plagued the nation after the bitterly contested elections.
Sakaja also told ODM politicians to desist from attacking the DP.
Over the years, Mau Forest evictions have been emotive. Some leaders have used it for political mileage.
In 2010, Ruto opposed Raila's efforts to restore the forest. The Raila was the Prime Minister in the National Grand Coalition government.
Then, the Cabinet charged the PM with the responsibility of spearheading the restoration of the Mau Water Tower - the biggest water catchment in the Rift Valley.
Raila had strong backing in the Rift Valley, but his popularity waned as shown by the votes he garnered in the 2013 and 2017 elections. The Mau eviction is one of the key causes of the dwindling support.
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