Keter says URP mates asking him to shut up

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter. He has claimed that colleagues in URP are urging him to tone down his criticism of the government. The disgruntled first-term MP expressed shock at last week’s parastatal appointments by President Kenyatta, saying it was a continuation of what has been happening since the March election. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

• Mr Keter declared that so long as URP was treated unfairly in the coalition, he would not relent even if it were a lone battle.
• He accused President Kenyatta’s The National Alliance of designating itself the senior partner in Jubilee, relegating Mr Ruto’s URP to a spectator.
• He laughed off an alleged plan by some leaders in Jubilee to hold countrywide rallies to denounce him and portray him as a gun for hire paid off by enemies of the ruling coalition.

By TIMOTHY KEMEI
More by this Author

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has claimed that colleagues in URP are urging him to tone down his criticism of the government.

Speaking at Tiritaab Moita in Bureti, Kericho County, at the weekend, Mr Keter declared that so long as URP was treated unfairly in the coalition, he would not relent even if it were a lone battle.

“Some people are telling me to lie low and wait for Mr William Ruto’s time to form the government in the same manner former President Moi did during the Jomo Kenyatta regime, but I disagree.

I will not relent until we have our rightful share of benefits,” he said.

He accused President Kenyatta’s The National Alliance of designating itself the senior partner in Jubilee, relegating Mr Ruto’s URP to a spectator.

The disgruntled first-term MP expressed shock at last week’s parastatal appointments by President Kenyatta, saying it was a continuation of what has been happening since the March election.

He said URP had little to show for being in government.

“We are holding the horns of the cow while others are milking it,” he said.

Mr Keter also revisited the issue of the Sh1.2 trillion Nairobi-Kampala railway, insisting that Kenya had lost Sh400 billion in what he says was a flawed tender.

He also demanded the removal of more than 10 senior government officials whom he has accused of “fixing” Deputy President Ruto at the ICC.

“Now the government wants to retrench 100,000 people to reduce Sh30B from its wage bill.

That means if we are to recover the Sh400B lost in the tender, more than one million people could lose their jobs,” he warned.

He laughed off an alleged plan by some leaders in Jubilee to hold countrywide rallies to denounce him and portray him as a gun for hire paid off by enemies of the ruling coalition.

He said such a move would be a waste as many people had already began to agree with him that things were not right in the coalition.

“It is not true that I am trying to break Jubilee apart.

I am just stating the truths,” he said.

This came as the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Kericho County branch Secretary Daniel Chumo threw his weight behind the presidential appointments and called on Kenyans across the nation to allow the president perform his constitutional duties in peace.

Mr Chumo also defended Amb Muthaura’s appointment to head LAPSSET saying the former head of civil service will bring a lot of experience on board and was equal to the task he was given.

“Teachers in Kericho County fully support President Kenyatta.

We are calling on people to stop politicizing the whole appointment issue because playing petty politics will not help Kenya in any way,” noted Mr Chumo.

However, he called on the President to give Kericho more jobs, noting that the single appointment from the county was not adequate for a region that had supported the president overwhelmingly during the last general election.

Former medical Superintendent of the Kapkatet District Hospital Dr Kenneth Sigilai, who was appointed to chair the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, hails from the Bureti Sub-County.