By JULIUS SIGEI juliussigei@gmail.comPosted Saturday, January 8 2011 at 21:00
The arraignment in court of former Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey last Tuesday on 12 counts of corruption has shaken the length and breadth of the Kalenjin-occupied Rift Valley.
Hours before his arraignment in court, Mr Kosgey had stepped aside as minister, thereby joining Eldoret North MP William Ruto, his political nemesis, in the backbench and in the trenches to fight for political survival.
The move, which came a few weeks after International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo named Kosgey as one of the six suspected masterminds of the post-election violence, alongside Mr Ruto, left many supporters in the province feeling exposed.
Some pundits the Sunday Nation spoke to say fate has conspired to bring the two politicians, who have been on two opposing ends of the feud in ODM, to one side and that the political landscape in the region is set to change radically.
Defection claim
Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny, an outspoken Ruto ally, claimed Mr Kosgey has been considering decamping to the Ruto side for some time even before the ICC named him.
“We have been holding meetings for about two months now and I suspect it is because of this that they are unleashing all this terror on him within so short a time,” said Mr Kutuny.
He did not explain how Mr Kosgey’s political detractors would have a handle on investigations at the ICC and back home at the KACC and neither did he name those he was referring to.
The Cherangany MP added that the charges facing Mr Kosgey were a blessing in disguise for the Rift Valley leaders as fate had forced them to unite and deal a lasting blow to “what little remained of Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s support in the province.
This has even made William’s work easier. His campaign will now be music to the people of the region as he will tell them ‘I told you Raila could not be depended on even by his most dedicated allies’.”
He said Mr Kosgey was disappointed that the PM accepted his stepping aside before even seeking to know the circumstances surrounding his decision and this has created a siege mentality that the community was now isolated and targeted.
Mr Kosgey is not only the ODM chairman but has been one of Mr Odinga’s most ardent defenders after leaders allied to Mr Ruto fell out with the PM over the Mau complex conservation, alleged short-changing in ministerial appointments and how to try masterminds of post-election violence suspects.
But Konoin MP Julius Kones said that were Mr Kosgey to join the Ruto camp, he would not add value to the latter’s campaign.
“He is a spent force and these unfortunate cases have only speeded up the end of his political career. Like retired president Daniel Moi, he can only count on his wealth but his impact will not be felt,” said Dr Kones.
Use-and-dump
He claimed that the PM has perfected the politics of use-and-dump and that he will very quickly look for other leaders in the region to align himself with.
“But given that the influential leaders in the province are completely united against him, he can only get light weights who are on their way out of the political arena,” he said, adding that Kosgey’s woes were “the last nail in Mr Odinga’s political coffin in the province”.
But Energy assistant minister Magerer Lang’at, who is a close ally of Mr Odinga, said Mr Kosgey’s predicament was a passing cloud. He accused the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) of witch hunt as Mr Kosgey had “only used his discretionary powers in a perfectly constitutional manner”.
He said the ICC cases were a frame-up and that those mentioned would not be indicted.
University of Nairobi lecturer Adams Oloo said the political landscape in the province would only change if the ICC judges rule in March that those named had a case to answer.
But the don was of the opinion that should the leaders be indicted, it would be the Ruto camp which would be most hard-hit.
“There are many MPs in the Rift Valley whose political lifeline depends on Mr Ruto and, should the latter be exterminated politically, they will find themselves orphaned,” he said.
He said the PM’s side was different in that those who supported him were not doing so because of Mr Kosgey but were doing so out of their own personal decisions, even though he admitted Mr Odinga, too, had been shaken politically.
Mr Kosgey’s and Mr Ruto’s exit from the Cabinet now leaves behind only three ministers from the community. They are Roads minister Franklin Bett, Agriculture minister Sally Kosgei and her East African Community counterpart Prof Hellen Sambili.
The three are allied to the PM alongside assistant ministers Beatrice Kones and Magerer Lang’at as well as backbenchers Julius Murgor, Musa Sirma and Dr Joyce Laboso. None of them has yet displayed as much political acumen as Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey.
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