• Murkomen, in a statement on Wednesday, criticised the move by President Uhuru Kenyatta to revoke the Sh22 billion dam contract.
Image: FILE
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has demanded the resignation of Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen as Leader of Majority of the Senate.
The lawmaker wants his counterpart to step down following his comments regarding the cancellation of the works on Kimwarer dam.
Kuria wants the legislator punished over his comments that the dams probe was spearheaded by a particular community.
Murkomen, in a statement on Wednesday, criticised the move by President Uhuru Kenyatta to revoke the Sh22 billion dam contract.
In a tweet, the lawmaker claimed that the cancellation of the project – which was to be executed alongside Arror and Itare dams, was part of the wider scheme to kill the projects.
He argued that the composition of the technical committee did not reflect ethnic and regional balance.
Murkomen said the committee misled the President, adding that the group did neither consulted nor conducted public participation.
“Elgeyo Marakwet has been denied rightful share of national projects in deliberate act of discrimination. They would rather default and pay contractors billions of money for breach of contract than to see our people benefit,” the Senate Majority leader said.
“I urge the President to constitute a transparent team that is national in character to look at all projects in Kenya and that which will not ethnically profile some regions for discrimination.”
But Kuria said the remarks were in bad taste, adding that the country’s leaders cannot keep tribalising everything.
“For a leader of the Senate to invoke tribal angles to such a crucial matter is unacceptable. Let Murkomen step aside so that he can be free to make such statements,” the Gatundu South MP said.
The lawmaker warned that such careless remarks risk putting the country at the susceptibility of a flare-up.
“We cannot do things the same way and expect different results. Murkomen might be excited but let him not forget the long distance the country has moved to achieve the unity we experience today,” Kuria said.
“Such statements raise a lot of fears…what if Murkomen will be in the team that forms the next government? Doesn’t he think that such statements can subject communities to fear?”
The MP said he would ask Jubilee Secretary general Raphael Tuju to convene a meeting to discuss Murkomen’s comments and how the same border on his suitability as Leader of Majority.