Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has apologized to his Siaya counterpart Senator James Orengo after he shamed him before the Senate in regards to his academic achievements.
During the removal of Senate Deputy Speaker Kindiki Kithure, Murkomen standing on the point of order, accused Orengo, a senior counsel, of continuously poking holes on his academic qualifications yet they went to the same University.
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
“Senator Orengo has over and over again doubted my practice and knowledge of the law and my academic qualifications,” Murkomen said then.
“We went to the same University, although the difference is 26 years. I have two Masters Degrees, and he has none. I have taught at University, and he has not,” Murkomen went on.
However, on Saturday Murkomen asked Orengo to forgive him adding that he respected him and his achievements over time.
“My respect for Sen. James Orengo as a lawyer, a politician and a legislator is well documented within and outside Parliament. I have spared little opportunity to pay him the tribute he so richly deserves, and always scrupulously defer to his experience, knowledge and seniority,” Murkomen said.
“As a young African, my respect for Orengo is a duty that I cannot escape, and which I gladly embrace because Sen. Orengo is three decades my senior, and has filled that time with valiant achievements,” he added.
YOUNG LAWYERS
However, Murkomen urged Orengo never to use his vast experience to look down on young and upcoming lawyers.
“In the heated debate in the Chamber as well as discourse on the political arena, it has become customary for my learned senior colleague to cite his long and successful litigation experience to advance his arguments while at the same time implying that younger colleagues are not qualified or competent to challenge his positions,” Murkomen said.
“The persistence of this tactic suggests that Sen. Orengo not only puts a tremendous premium on his seniority in the legal profession but also seeks to privilege it at the expense of all competing positions. It would, therefore, be unjust to institutionalize a culture that disenfranchises young people and privileges age as the only material professional criterion,” he added.
He further said that he hopes that despite the heated debate with Orengo, their friendship will remain.
“This is the spirit in which I took up my intervention, and I hope that this debate will not in any way strain my friendship with Hon. Sen. Orengo,” he wrote.
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