President Uhuru Kenyatta summoned four Jubilee Members of Parliament who defied the party's directive to resign from committees of Parliament they were elected to head.
Nandi Hills' Alfred Keter, Moiben’s Silas Tiren, Marakwet MP David Bowen and Emgwen's Alex Kosgey — defied a directive by Deputy President William Ruto to relinquish the seats they had won, against their party's wishes.
The four were elected chairmen of the Labour and Social Welfare, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, and Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives committees respectively, trumping the Jubilee party's preferred nominees.
In addition to the four, the Jubilee Party leader has also summoned all the 50-plus Jubilee MPs in the four committees to a meeting at State House from 8am today.
[caption caption="President Uhuru meeting Jubilee MPs"]
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DP Ruto had met and spoken to the four separately and even convened a meeting last Wednesday at his Weston Hotel with other Rift Valley MPs where he demanded that the four-step down. But the MPs openly told him off and refused to resign.
However, the legislators stated that they would not make it to the meeting with the DP on Wednesday because they had various commitments that could not be canceled.
Keter, was attending the hearing of a petition filed against his election in Eldoret, was livid and he accused the Deputy President of abusing his office.
“This is such a petty issue. Why is he bringing the President in it? The President has a huge task of uniting the country and putting together his Cabinet and other important state matters,” Keter stated.
Keter has previously been a harsh critic of DP Ruto and fought hard to be re-elected to Parliament, running against Ruto’s aide Emmanuel Tallam, who challenged him for the Nandi Hills seat.
[caption caption="Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter"]
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The four have insisted that they see no reason to resign because they were elected by members of their respective committees properly.
