The appointment of the next Inspector General of Police is expected to rekindle bad blood between the governing Jubilee partners after MPs from Rift Valley warned they would walk out of the coalition should the region be overlooked. The disgruntlement over Kimaiyo has echoes of the row generated by Standard Gauge Railway tendering bids and the tiff over sacking of former National Youth Service director Kiplimo Rugut. Immediately, Kimaiyo announced his retirement, there was talk that he had been compelled to step down. The retirement was triggered by a spate of terror attacks, which in turn piled pressure on him to resign or President Uhuru Kenyatta shows him the door. However, the Constitution mechanism for his impeachment is long and tedious compared to the shorter option of retiring. In a recent thanksgiving in Turbo, Uasin Gishu County, MPs from Elgeyo Marakwet, where Kimaiyo comes from, were conspicuously missing as other URP and TNA legislators turned up to show support for Deputy President William Ruto who is still facing charges at the ICC. Apart from Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Jackson Kiptanui (Keiyo South), other legislators including Elgeyo Marakwet County Governor Alex Tolgos skipped the function. One MP from the region who spoke to us, but declined to be identified, said the leaders snubbed the meeting because of their disappointment following Kimaiyo’s ouster. See Also: President Uhuru assents to four bills “They did not turn up not because they didn’t want to but because they wanted to send a message that it is not business as usual,” he said. Some leaders from the North Rift, specifically leaders from Elgeyo Marakwet, have termed Kimaiyo’s removal as a public relations stunt. They now want the President to make a ‘direct replacement’. The MPs William Kisang (Marakwet West), Kangogo Bowen (Marakwet East), Dr James Murgor (Keiyo North) , Jackson Kiptanui (Keiyo South) and Dr Susan Chebet (Woman Rep) are on record saying Kimaiyo was ‘forced’ to retire. They argue the county has already missed out on top positions in Government including that of Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries and losing the IG position was a blow. “Whereas other leaders are insisting that a replacement must come from the region, we are insisting the appointment of the next IG has to be a direct replacement. It must be known that we voted for the Jubilee government 99 per cent,” Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos said. Tolgos accused a senator from Rift Valley of pushing the removal of Kimaiyo. “It’s not an external war. We will continue fighting from within. We are fighting one of our own who purports to be part of a kitchen cabinet and who is fighting our people.”
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 09:03:26 +0000
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