UPBEAT: Raila Odinga with Dr Sally Kosgei (L) and Henry Kosgey at a funeral in Nandi county yesterday.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga yesterday said his apology to the Kalenjin community a week ago was genuine and out of sincerity.
He said he wants to work with Kalenjin leaders and forge an alliance to win the presidential election on March 4, 2013.
Raila refuted accusations that he and the ODM bigwigs had sacrificed Eldoret North MP William Ruto to face trial at the International Criminal Court over the 2007-08 post-election violence.
The ODM leader said he understands why the Kalenjin are bitter "but I am not the one to blame". He said Ruto "was part of my 2007 general election winning team".
Raila said divisions within ODM were fuelled by external forces leading to internal rebellion and a number of key officials turned against their party.
The PM was speaking at Kapsisiywa village in Emgwen constituency in Nandi Central district when he joined thousands of mourners at the burial of the Nandi Council of Elders chairman Mzee Burgei Tuwei, a grandson of the legendary leader Orkoiyot Koitalel arap Samoei.
Both Agriculture minister Dr Sally Kosgei and her Industrialisation counterpart Henry Kosgey said the Kalenjin community is not for sale and dismissed a pre-election coalition accord between Uhuru Kenyatta's The National Alliance (TNA) and William Ruto's United Republican Party (URP).
The Agriculture minister said the arrangement was ill-advised since Kalenjin supported Uhuru in 2002 only to be sacked from key state jobs by the clique now backing Uhuru's State House bid.
“We will never be cheated again … even LDP entered into an MoU with the same clique, they got what they had agreed … then you know the kind of people they are,” Dr Kosgei said.
The minister said she paid the price of being unceremoniously dismissed from the Civil Service without any benefits after the 2002 elections.
“Never make the same mistake again by being cheated into useless coalitions,” she said.
Kosgey, the ODM party chairman, said no single community is superior and all need justice and fairness.
“I was a victim of the ICC before I was discharged by the chambers … we know who were behind our problems at the International Court, it was not Raila Odinga but certain people who wanted to fix us for their own benefit.”
Asking the Kalenjin to reject “the hotel-tailored coalition”, Kosgey said it was meant to benefit an individual to get power and not Kenyans in general.
He said Raila means well for Kenya as he stands for justice and fairness. All citizens would enjoy the fruits of independence if Raila was elected President, he added.
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