Thirteen ODM MPs on Wednesday afternoon defended Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho over accusations that he is involved in drug trafficking.
The leaders among them Minority Whip Junet Mohamed accused Deputy President William Ruto of being behind the attacks targeted at Joho. They spoke during
a press conference at Parliament Buildings,
"We are tired of having to continuously respond to these drugs accusations. These old and tired accusations have been overtaken by events," Junet said.
Ruto allies Nandi Governor Stephen Sang and MPs Oscar Sudi (Kapseret),
Didmus
Barasa (Kimilili) and Kimani Ichungwa (Kikuyu) have been linking Joho to the illicit
trade.
On Tuesday, the court ordered Sang, Ichungwah and Sudi to appear before it over the allegations after Joho sought orders seeking
to stop them from making the alleged defamatory remarks.
The three are expected to appear before the High Court within 15 days, failure to which a full proceeding against them will begin.
The leaders said to have claimed that Joho’s name was in a list tabled in Parliament by the late Prof George Saitoti in 2010.
But ODM legislators said the people attacking Joho
are idle.
"In fact, Joho has written to Interpol on the issue. Let them substantiate those allegations that they are making," Junet said.
The Suna East MP said Joho's critics made the accusations because President Uhuru Kenyatta had stopped the Tanga Tanga team from going around the country to launch projects.
"They were going around launching fake projects. But after the Executive Order... members of the group are idle that is why they have time to malign other leaders who are busy serving Kenyans," he said.
"The Tanga Tanga movement is a doomed voyage and a lost cause... every time the movement lacks an agenda to sell for 2022, they resort to maligning others."
Among the leaders present were Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga, Saboti MP Caleb Hamisi, Kwale Senator Issa Juma Boy and Nominate MP Godfrey
Otsotsi.