Corrupt Kalenjin politicians are hiding behind the community to shield themselves from investigation, outspoken Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has said.
Keter asked Kenyans to reject Rift Valley politicians who have stolen from public coffers.
The MP said he will mount a campaign in the lead up to the 2022 General Election to urge voters to reject corrupt presidential contenders.
“Some of these people have stolen everything from Kenyans, yet they want to be elected President in 2022. Kenyans should elect such people at their own risk,” Keter said at the weekend.
Read:
He spoke after the Court of Appeal reinstated him as MP.
The High Court in Eldoret nullified Keter’s election in February.
Keter sensationally claimed a politician called him and cautioned him against complicating the 2022 Kenyatta succession.
“Alinipigia juzi akasema wewe naona unaanza kukoroga mambo na mimi naomba kura 2022. Nikamwambia maombi yangu juu hata mimi nataka kuwa rais siku moja. Wewe ukipata nafasi Wakenya
watatuchukia jamiii yetu ya Kalenjin wakifikiria sisi ni wezi kama wewe.” [He recently called me saying I am scuttling his 2022 bid. I told him my prayer because I also want to become president some day. I told him that Kenyans will hate our Kalenjin community if he wins because they will think that we are all thieves like him]
He did not name the politicians.
In a hard-hitting speech at a funeral in Siaya on Saturday, Keter said some politicians steal from Kenyans as individuals, then conveniently rally their Kalenjin constituency for support.
“They don’t steal on behalf of the Kalenjin community and when cornered they should not claim the community was being targeted. Let them carry their own cross as thieves,” he said.
“There is nothing like tribe. You don’t steal on behalf of a community. If you steal and buy a helicopter, it’s always in your name. You do not register it in the name of Nandi nation, Tugen, Kalenjin, Kipsigis but in your name and that of your family.”
Keter said no politician involved in graft should claim to have acted on behalf of their community.
“They are used to stealing even from us. The looters of this land do so for themselves, not even their families, not even their own brothers who are still languishing in poverty,” he said.
Yesterday, the MP maintained his position, saying he will not support corrupt leaders.
“Some of them called me and asked why I was going against the community’s interest and I said I will not support corrupt leaders,” Keter told the Star on the phone.
More:
NO COMMENT
“If some of these Kalenjin leaders are elected to high office, they will steal everything until Kenyans will think all Kalenjins are thieves yet that is not true.”
A video of the MP has since gone viral on social media.
MPs from Rift Valley opted not to comment on Keter’s claim.
Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen said it was “not worth commenting on.”
Keter announced he was interested in the presidency in future and asked corrupt Kalenjin leaders not to derail the ambitions of young and upright politicians from the region.
The MP told President Uhuru Kenyatta to sustain the fight against corruption and arrest all graft barons so that ill-gotten wealth does not hurt the economy.
Keter, Moiben MP Silas Tiren and Emurua Dikirr’s Johanah Ng’eno have promised to team up and aggressively back Kenyatta’s war on graft.
The MPs want action taken against those linked to the Sh1.9 billion maize payout at the National Cereals and Produce Board.
They said delayed payments had left farmers hurting. The farmers are owed money for maize delivered in December.