Now you hear him, now you don’t

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By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU (ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com)
Posted  Friday, November 11  2011 at  14:39

Isaac Kiprono Rutto. That is the full name of the Chepalungu MP. He speaks his mind. However, his straight-shooting mouth was inexplicably muted early this week.

Mr Rutto (his name is actually spelled with a double ‘t’ in the parliamentary records) is known for his muscle to trade barbs.

He has a reputation of being fearless. He even told the Prime Minister, Mr Raila Odinga to take “political responsibility” over the Kazi kwa Vijana scandal when other backbenchers were falling over themselves to defend him.

But when the PM was on the chopping board on Wednesday — over the reinstatement of Mr Moses Wetang’ula to the Cabinet — the Chepalungu MP left the debating chambers.

He walked to the media centre and, when asked why he had left, he said, “Hiyo ni fitina tu huko ndani!” (that’s witch-hunt going on in the House).

Earlier that day, the MP, together with two others who sat in the dysfunctional Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, held a meeting, but then Parliament failed to allocate them a clerk. So, the three stormed the media centre seeking to address journalists, then they received a call.

An hour later, Mr Rutto, Mr George Nyamweya and Mr Njoroge Baiya told journalists that someone high up in Parliament had promised them heaven.

Mr Rutto was unusually silent. He said as much. “Today, I will speak by shutting my mouth,” he told journalists at a news conference as he cancelled the meeting.

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For the past three weeks, the MP has informed journalists that he will be addressing the media. But at the appointed hour, he disappears.

Apparently, his threats made the big shots in Parliament act on the matter. At one time, he even had a copy of a motion to censure the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, but somehow, he dropped the idea.

Clearly something is happening to the son of the Mau. On Thursday, Mr Rutto resurfaced in the House seeking a statement on the stoning of the motorcade of Mr Raphael Tuju in Kisumu. But he went overboard.

He (mis)quoted ODM secretary-general Anyang’ Nyong’o’s statement that Mr Tuju’s stoning might have been “stage-managed”, saying Nyong’o stated “Tuju stoned himself”.

Then he went on and on, tickling MPs, cracking jokes about stone-throwing and the constituencies of some MPs. He claimed that MPs John Mbadi and Jakoyo Midiwo were in the loop on the attack.

Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim was not impressed and threw him out for disorderly conduct. The MP then gesticulated at Mr Maalim.

The Speaker said Mr Rutto insulted him. So, in his silence, he might have been planning something.