Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has come out to defend Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata who has been under fire over a controversial letter he authored to President Uhuru Kenyatta on the BBI.
The letter, which claimed the BBI is unpopular in Central Kenya, sparked mix reactions with leaders from the region among them 10 County Governors coming out to rubbish the document and castigate Senator Kang’ata.
“As a senior member of parliament and Jubilee party, Hon Kangata should have followed official government structures and procedures in his address to HE the President. Such breach of protocol is unacceptable. It raises questions why a senior member of the government leadership in parliament would choose this cheap populist method to address this issue to HE the President whose office is just a few steps away from parliament,” said the Governors in a joint statement.
Murkomen now says any attempt by the Jubilee Party leadership to eject Kang’ata from the Majority Whip seat will be strongly opposed. The seat was previously held by Senator Susan Kihika who was replaced over perceived disloyalty to the party.
“If the Jubilee Party Leadership calls for a meeting to remove Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata we shall attend the meeting and vehemently oppose his ejection. Instead we shall remove none Party members and replace with Party members. It doesn’t matter what he did to Susan Kihika and I. We shall oppose,” said Murkomen in a tweet.
In the letter, Kang’ata said only two in ten people in Central Kenya support the BBI, a finding he said is based on a personal survey he conducted during the Christmas holiday.
He stated that only two out of 10 respondents supported the BBI, two others were indifferent while six opposed it; out of the six, majority were women and youth, men above 50 were listed as among the bulk of few supporters.
The Senate Majority Whip, in the letter, averred that though most of his respondents were from Murang’a County, the sample size was big enough for him to make a logical inference.
“Your Excellency, I concede I may be wrong. In fact, I wish I was wrong and that my views are a mere pessimistic view of things. However, if I am right and we do not take urgent remedial measures, I will pin myself permanently in the pillar of the shame of spectacular defeat,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Kang’ata has since apologised over the manner in which the letter went public, saying it was leaked by a third party.
Senator Kang’ata, however, maintains that the issues in the letter are substantive, adding that he hopes they will be remedied.
“Kindly though the letter dated 30th December is authentic, I didn’t give it to the media. Someone else who had been copied did. I apologise for that. With the benefit of hindsight. I should have copied no one else. Trust substantive issues raised in the letter will be remedied,” said the Senate Majority Whip on Monday.
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