Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen tore into President Uhuru Kenyatta accusing him of hypocrisy and neglect.
During a press conference in Nairobi on Wednesday, September 4, the senator recalled how Kenyatta supported Mau evictees in 2009, yet his government was currently evicting the squatters without a resettlement plan.
"It should be known that in 2009, before the 2013 elections, something significant which looked so simple and minute at that time happened. On November 25, 2009, Uhuru then the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister presided over a very important fundraiser to support the family and victims of evictions in Mau."
"In that very important function which I attended as a lecturer before my election into government, I sat behind and listened as Uhuru made a profound statement that even if we want to protect the future, you cannot destroy the present. That became a policy with which Uhuru was elected in 2013," Murkomen recalled on live TV.
He further went on to rant about how Kenyatta had betrayed the Mau evictees and his own party members.
"First I want to say that it should be known to the republic that the Jubilee administration was formed on a foundation that was about bringing people together after the post-election violence of 2007/2008 and the evictions that became so emotive in both Embobut forest and in Mau forest.
"Uhuru and Ruto had intense conversations that led to them coming together and forming a political coalition whose objective was to bring Kenyans together and solve problems that the people of Kenya were going through, including the Mau question," the Deputy President William Ruto's close ally lashed out.
The senator further recalled how he too was evicted from Embobut forest.
"I have gone through what the people in Mau have been subjected to as I was evicted from Embobut," he revealed.
Murkomen was amplifying pleas from Rift Valley leaders to have the evictions halted and squatters resettled first.
"I was among the task force that saw the resettlement of a few squatters from Embobut. Some were resettled and others not," he recalled.
He further blasted Environment CS, Keriako Tobiko, for carrying out an eviction that was not authorised by the government.
"I dare say that Keriako Tobiko should be called out for insubordination against the president and carrying out processes that have not been approved by the government of Kenya. When we stand here and speak I do not wish to be questioned why I am contradicting the government. We are the government. Keriako Tobiko is not the government.
"The position of the government is clear that there will be no brutalities, no evictions, no burning of houses, no closing of schools until the time this government will have a conversation with its citizens on whether or not they should surrender the legitimate property that they bought. Whether they have title deeds or not, it is the responsibility of the government to make sure that its citizens are settled property in the right place," Murkomen cried out.
Watch the video, courtesy of Kameme TV and Citizen TV.
