Editor's Review

  • According to Murkomen, Odinga should face the State of Uganda instead of sending his shadows.

Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has challenged ODM leader Raila Odinga to take the fight to President Yoweri Museveni after ODM MPs statement on Deputy President William Ruto’s cancelled trip to Uganda.

According to him, Odinga should face the State of Uganda instead of sending his shadows.

I dare @RailaOdinga to directly take on President Yoweri Museveni and the Ugandan State instead of sending his cow to do shadow boxing,” said Murkomen.

On Wednesday, ODM MPs led by Suna East MP Junet Mohamed accused DP Ruto of treating the country to a sympathy-seeking circus after his failed visit to Uganda on Monday.

They went on to accuse the DP of planning to use the tactics of Uganda’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) to capture power in Kenya, something they insisted should make Kenyans very afraid.

[MP Junet Mohamed with ODM leader Raila Odinga]

The NRM record on human rights, democracy, good governance, freedom of the press, expanding civil society, fighting corruption, creating a cohesive society, and uplifting people from poverty is not worth borrowing. NRM is a party of lifetime presidency,” said Junet.

Adding that, “While we do not wish to interfere with internal Political arrangements in other countries, we equally want to state very categorically that we do not need to borrow from other countries political habits whose end result can only lead to chaos and backwardness of our country. Kenya is the most advanced democracy in this region.”

Junet added that while Kenyan politics can be bitter and quarrelsome, they (ODM) know when to stop and build a prosperous inclusive country.

DP Ruto and his delegation were meant to travel to Uganda on Monday afternoon, but immigration officials blocked him from leaving the country, arguing that he had not been cleared by the President’s office.

Reports said that protocol was not followed in planning the visit and that neither Kenya’s High Commission in Uganda nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been informed of the visit.

On Wednesday DP Ruto revealed that his recent trips to Uganda have been focused on personal investment opportunities.

[DP William Ruto]

He stated in an interview that the early July visit which he made with an entourage of his political allies was a personal visit on the invite of President Museveni after he had helped to secure funding for a business venture in the country.

"I was in Uganda on the invite of President Yoweri Museveni for the launching of a vaccines manufacturing facility,"

"The investor of the factory approached me 2 years ago asking for my help to get an investment loan from Equity Bank. I made a call and he was given Ksh 15 billion and he is now building the factory in Uganda. That is the reason why I was there," DP Ruto said.