Raila, Ruto unite against state 'warlords' harassing senators

 

ODM leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto were on Tuesday united in condemning the Monday arrest of senators ahead of the debate on the revenue sharing formula. 

Raila, who has been President Uhuru Kenyatta's foremost political buddy, Tuesday warned state agents against actions which would claw back the hard-won democratic space in the country.

"The warlords need to stop beating the drums of war or financing the divisive rhetoric and our legislators involved in this matter need to search their souls in all honesty and put public good above private gain," Raila said.

The arrest of three senators on Monday triggered a political storm in the Senate that saw angry lawmakers rail at the state for trying to circumvent the will of the people in exercising their mandate through their elected representatives. 

Senators Cleophas Malala (Kakamega), Steve Lelegwe (Samburu) and Christopher Langat (Bomet) were arrested and driven to their respective counties to answer to flimsy charges.

Emotions ran high during the debate with senators pointing an accusing finger at state functionaries for unleashing terror on their colleagues holding divergent views.

Ruto on Tuesday took to Twitter and said, "The abuse of police and criminal justice to bully citizens, threaten and intimidate leaders and now blackmail senate is wrong." He said Kenyans did not elect Jubilee to bully citizens.

"The bipartisan Senate Committee to build win-win consensus is great wisdom and leadership. The abuse of police is wrong... very wrong. It's not the reason millions woke up early to vote for us," he said.

In a strongly-worded statement, the first one of its kind since the March 2018 handshake, Raila criticised those behind the arrests, warning of the emergence of draconian measures that could threaten the country's peace and unity.

At the same time, Raila indirectly accused Ruto of financing the revenue standoff at the Senate to boost his political fortunes as he castigated a section of senators of having been compromised.

While he did not name Ruto by name, he left no doubt when he said that leaders cannot afford to push positions that cause more division in the hope that such can boost "our chances" in competitive politics.

The opposition leader said the deadlock was fuelled by dishonest senators who failed the integrity question and the state actors who crossed the red line by clamping on lawmakers.

The ODM leader said that while the executive has at its disposal “disproportionate capacity to force, the push for a just, equal, democratic and prosperous Kenya” requires what he termed as “huge amounts of tolerance” from all arms of government.

“The State needs to pull back and abandon actions that take away the gains made on our path to democratization,” Raila said in a statement.

He went on, “Now more than ever, Kenyans need to pull together, not apart. Both the politicians and the State organs need to inspire confidence rather than sow doubts in our future as one people.”

Raila said that it was unnecessary to turn the debate on sharing of revenue among counties into a contest between losers and gainers, pastoralists and agriculturalists, regions and tribes.

“It was equally unnecessary to make revenue sharing a contest of might between the security organs,” the ODM boss warned.

Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi had on Monday also termed the arrest of the three senators as draconian.

"The arrests, ostensibly to prevent them from attending to their duty in Parliament, to vote for or against motions on county revenue-sharing, is very unfortunate. It is a throwback to dark days we thought were behind us," he said.

He also accused the Jubilee government of misusing law and enforcement agencies by "politicising the police".