RUTO BACK

Nairobi — AN unexpected phone call from the fiery Chepalungu MP Isaac Rutto changed Prime Minister Raila Odinga's stance on the ongoing MPs' retreat seeking consensus on the proposed constitution.

Rutto has been one of Raila's fiercest critics but on Monday he picked up his phone and asked the PM who was in Mombasa for a meeting.

It now looks like Raila may be clawing back some of his lost support in South Rift Valley after this thaw in relations with one of his rival Agriculture minister William Ruto's strongest supporters.

However some ODM sceptics speculated that Isaac Rutto was only seeking personal advantage in case there is a Cabinet reshuffle.

"I had looked at the way things were going," Isaac Rutto told The Star.

"I was convinced that if we do not talk to the PM on this issue of national importance, then no deal will ever come. So I picked up my phone and called him." Rutto said he did not expect Raila to answer his phone call since the Mau Forest evictions soured relations between the two last year. Isaac joined the mass rebellion led by William Ruto of Rift Valley ODM MPs against their party leader.

"The phone rang once, and on the second ting the PM had picked it up. I was surprised," Rutto revealed.

Rutto said he called Raila because he believed he was trying to block the new constitution and that "everybody thought he could just be ignored".

Relations between Raila and the Rift MPs reached a nadir following the Mau Forest evictions and the battle over whether the new Chepalungu district headquarters should be at Siongiroi or Sigor.

Raila rooted for Siongiroi while Rutto and the local elders put up a fight for Sigor.

The second phase of Mau evictions is due to start next month.

Yesterday the PM's spokesman Denis Onyango confirmed that the two had a telephone conversation that broke the impasse over the retreat that started yesterday at the Kenya Institute of Administration.

Originally ODM felt that the proposed constitution should be adopted without amendment and therefore a retreat was not necessary. On Monday Raila unexpectedly persuaded ODM MPs to attend the retreat.

"On Monday evening, Raila held a meeting with the MPs pushing for consensus. It was Isaac Ruto who convinced Raila to meet the MPs," Onyango said.

After talking to the PM, Ruto called members of the parliamentary caucus on reform for a late-night meeting with the PM to discuss the retreat.

"We told him it was important for him to implore the party chief whips to make a formal joint proposal to the Speaker," Ruto said.

The meeting at a room within Parliament Buildings was attended by 14 MPs.

After that, the Chepalungu legislator called Rift Valley MPs to another meeting to discuss whether to attend the ODM Parliamentary Group and NEC meeting at Orange House on Tuesday.

"I spoke to them and asked them to come with me to our party meeting.

They expressed fears they will be mocked by their colleagues but a few accompanied me," Ruto explained.

MPs Lukas Kigen, Peris Simam and Prof Margaret Kamar surprised their ODM colleagues when they suddenly turned up for the meeting.

Assistant Minister Beatrice Kones and MPs Joyce Laboso(Sotik) and Lukas Chepkitony (Keyio North) also attended the meeting.

Asked whether he briefed William Ruto about his conversation with Raila, Isaac said, "I do not seek permission from William. Sometimes I make my own decision and move on".

At the Tuesday meeting at Orange House, Raila asked the party MPs not to brand their colleagues like Ruto as rebels, saying that internal wrangling within the party can be resolved.

Nyando MP Fred Outa, an associate of the PM, dismissed Ruto's move as self-centred.

"He must have heard there is a reshuffle in the wind, or something good for him. His conduct and participation at the party PG was very strange, I cannot believe him at all," Outa said.

Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabir said Ruto has the right to attend any ODM meeting if he so wishes.

"He has a right to come when he wants to, but it is important to note that private talks and public relations politics are two different things," he said.

Shakeel said many leaders spoke to Raila before he decided to change his position on the retreat.

"Not at all, Ruto can't convince the PM. Raila is a straightforward man who has already said he is supporting the CoE draft as it is. He does not need any further convincing," Shakeel declared.

Ainamoi MP Benjamin Langat said that Ruto's phone call to Raila has the blessing of the people of Rift Valley.

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"We are saying if it is Raila who does not want a new constitution, let us talk to him," Langat said.

He said that Rift Valley leaders were in talks with leaders from Nyanza, Coast, Western, Eastern, North Eastern and Eastern to agree on federalism.

"We are talking on federalism so we can amend the draft, we have failed to convince people from Central," he said.

"He is now running to Raila to cleanse himself after messing the review process in Naivasha. The Kalenjin community know very well that the two Rutos misled the process for self-centred politics aimed at settling scores," said councillor Ronald Ngeny from Buret County.

Ngeny said the Kalenjin felt cheated as they supported federalism which the PSC deleted in Naivasha.


It's a race against time as members of parliament rush to finalize the debate on the proposed constitution by the close of business Thursday

So far not a single amendment raised Thursday has garnered the requisite number of MPs to see it through, raising fears that it will be a repeat of Wednesday when all the amendments were shot down after failing to get the two thirds majority required.

Thursday marks the end of the 30-day period parliament has to debate the document.

Amendments that were defeated Wednesday included those on issues seen as controversial in the document, that is the Kadhi's court, devolution and abortion.

On Wednesday. MPs voted to extend sittings to include Thursday morning to enable them debate the proposed amendments to the draft constitution.

President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are expected in parliament later Thursday in an attempt to marshal support for the document.