Kalenjin opposition heavyweight dies in Nairobi

By David OchamiA prominent opposition leader from the Kalenjin community and founder member of the Democratic Party (DP) during the rule of former President Moi has died.
Paul Kiptoo arap Koech, a native of Chepterit village in Wareng District, Eldoret South constituency, died at The Mater Hospital in Nairobi early Saturday, after being admitted in a coma on Tuesday.
His brother, Kimutai Tenai, said Kiptoo, who has left two wives and eleven children, fell into the coma last Tuesday after doctors diagnosed him with hypertension, which caused a blood clot to develop in the brain.

Paul Kiptoo Arap Koech

His family and friends have declared him a hero who risked his life and personal interest to pursue utilitarian good when fear and the motive of self preservation caused his compatriots to retreat and hide, or compromise their principles for personal greed and gain.
The politician, who has remained active in politics and business since 1992, has remained close to President Kibaki and the DP since the early 1990s, according to friends and allies who described Kiptoo as a foremost reformer among the Kalenjin in the footsteps of the late Tinderet MP Jean Marie Seroney and former Eldoret North MP Chelagat Mutai.
Born at Chepterit in 1958, Kiptoo rose to fame displaying immense bravery and courage when he helped Kibaki to found DP in December 1991, as its coordinator for Youth Affairs, even as the overwhelming majority of his people supported Moi and the former ruling party Kanu.
Youth co-ordinatorThe deceased, who was elected DP’s National Youth Coordinator at its founding was sensationally tear-gassed by anti-riot police at Chepterit Primary School in August 2002 when the former opposition leader (Kibaki) went there to raise funds.
Four months later, Kibaki was elected Kenya’s third president, but Kiptoo was never appointed to any post.
The highest and most controversial point in his political career was when he was arrested in Bahati Estate in Nairobi by a cousin in the police force, after attending a DP campaign rally at Ruringu Stadium in December 1992, where he claimed his people had been sworn to an oath to defend Kanu at the height of that election season’s political and ethnic violence.
He escaped arrest in Nyeri but was apprehended several days later, held incommunicado for several days before being charged with uttering inflammatory statements.
The charges were later withdrawn, but Kiptoo remained in the cross hairs of the Moi Government, which reportedly made several attempts to compel him to join Kanu.
"This is a man who dared (oppose) Moi when no one (in the Kalenjin community) could do that," said Peter Lelei, a friend of the deceased, who described Kiptoo’s courage and consistence as comparable only to the late Seroney’s and Mutai’s.
Kimutai disclosed that his late brother rejected threats, brutality, cash and other inducements in kind, including from politicians active today, to join Kanu from the DP.
"He was a reformer throughout," according to Kimutai, who said his late brother died DP’s National Youth Coordinator and was also engaged in farming.