It is 2018 and he is still as cocky as he used to be. Looking at his livid deep-set eyes these days, you can see a man not ready to kowtow to any political leanings. The old Alfred Keter is back after a bruising election.
To his political nemesis, Keter is abrasive and a little acerbic. His political masters find it hard to keep him tethered to the orders of the day.
The MP’s recent confrontation with Jubilee Party over parliamentary committees’ leadership marked the beginning of a term that will be full of political uppercuts and undercurrents. This has the ability to widen the rifts between and among politicians in the Rift Valley.
Keter is driving against the current and he has passengers to boot. Together with Moiben MP Silas Tiren, Marakwet East MP Kangogo Bowen and Embakasi North MP James Gakuya (all Jubilee legislators), they went to court late January to seek their reinstatement in their respective committees’ leadership. This was after the Jubilee leadership ejected them to pave way for regional balance in distribution of parliamentary slots through the committees. Although the court answered their prayers, the other MPs left silently, while Keter was left huffing and puffing against the party’s decision.
When Jubilee invited its MPs and Senators for a Parliamentary Group meeting at State House, Nairobi, it is reported only 50 MPs turned up, as more than 100 legislators gave the invitation a wide berth. Among the absent MPs was Keter.
The President’s anger was understood. How on earth could such a huge number of MPs ignore a meeting called by their party leader? And what informed their decision to skip the meeting, yet they had been informed? There is only one reason: There are creeping divisions eating into Jubilee.
In fact, some MPs from the Rift Valley who attended the meeting disclosed they were not impressed by the tone of their party leaders.
From this feedback, it is clear all is not well with the ruling party. It is also a pointer to the fact that party divisions are not confined to the Opposition alone. Jubilee should seal the cracks in its house before they become too wide to repair. Retrospectively, with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s grip on power as firmer than ever before, peppered with benign dictatorship, one does not defy party lines and expect lollipops and candy. Rattling snakes is no longer an attractive pastime in Jubilee.
This was Uhuru’s message to “rogue” MPs.
Keter should have known this by now. When he was dramatically arrested in a movie-like episode with two directors of Desai Company last week at the Central Bank offices over an alleged Treasury Bills fraud, he appeared dazed but soon regained his lost composure and bounced back.
He accused his tormentors of arresting him to try and cover up corruption at the CBK. Shortly after that drama, some Rift Valley MPs — who read mischief into Keter tribulations — visited him at the Muthaiga police station, where he was remanded without being booked in the Occurrence Book. The politicians, who included Baringo Senator Gideon Moi and Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny, saw Jubilee’s hand in their colleague’s arrest.
Without mincing words, they read the Riot Act to President Uhuru Kenyatta for his role in Keter’s arrest, telling him “Rift Valley is watching”.
These words may be few but they have a huge meaning in regards to 2022 succession politics that will play out in the region. They are a double-edged sword that can divide the Kalenjin vote and impact the succession ambitions of Deputy President William Ruto.
The fault lines are already forming after the lull that preceded last year’s General Election. The storm will be brewed by Kanu stalwarts led by the Baringo Senator, buoyed by factions in Central Kenya that have vowed to support his presidential bid in 2022.
Already, Central Kenya’s torchbearers for Gideon’s bid are up and about using social media to campaign for him. These are echoes of alignments and whispers of the night of the long knives. In Rift Valley, the voters feel DP Ruto is nearer to the throne than Gideon and are more inclined to back him.