Murkomen: Raila pushing own agenda
Senate Leader of Majority Kipchumba Murkomen has accused Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) chief Raila Odinga of using the Handshake to pursue own agenda — alienating political rivals.
“Raila is using the Handshake to sweep away his rivals like a tsunami,” Murkomen said during the K24 TV Sunday night PunchLine talk-show hosted by Anne Kiguta.
The Elgeyo Marakwet senator, who is also a close ally of Deputy President William Ruto, said he thinks there is no difference between the Handshake and Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
Political hostilities
The Handshake was the truce declared by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila on March 2018 to end political hostilities after two tense presidential elections.
Murkomen said while President Uhuru focuses on ensuring there is peace for his development agenda to succeed, the Raila has on the other hand been advancing his own political agenda, to exclude his rivals ahead of 2022 General Election.
Asked whether there is a way to differentiate the Handshake from the BBI, he said, “The Handshake of Uhuru Kenyatta is not the Handshake of Raila Odinga.”
He went on to accuse the BBI team of working for the interests of Raila under the guise of collecting views from Kenyans.
“The team has just been crisscrossing the country, attending choreographed meetings in the name of getting people’s views,” he said.
On the emotive Mau Forest evictions, Murkomen said the government must compensate those affected.
The senator said the government knows what to do if it wants to remove people from Mau.
“It is simple, Tobiko should do a Cabinet memo to be debated by the Cabinet then taken to the National Treasury for budgeting and then to the Legislature to approve the budget, by doing so, we will have addressed the compensation issue,” he said.
