By   Kipchumba Kemei

ODM strategists have gone into panic mode after the Mau forest resettlement fiasco took fresh dimensions with potential threats that could wipe out the little gains the party has made in the Rift Valley.

In a week full of political drama, a section of Rift Valley MPs who had stuck with Prime Minister Raila Odinga even after their colleagues defected along with Eldoret North MP William Ruto, dropped the bombshell that they could be on their way out of the Orange party.

Assistant ministers Magerer Langat (pictured left) (Energy), Beatrice Kones (Home Affairs)    and Sotik MP Joyce Laboso (picture left) said they were not happy with the Prime Minister over the delay in resettling  the 5,000 families evicted from Mau Forest to give room for  the rehabilitation of the country’s biggest water tower.

The MPs first resigned from the Mau resettlement task force, dealing a blow to the multi-billion shillings project, then later threatened to move to court to force the Government to resettle the evictees.

They charged that the Government was taking too long to purchase land for the people who were kicked out of south west Mau bloc of the larger 400,000-hectare complex.

Although he did not accompany the MPs when they issued the ultimatum, Roads minister Franklin Bett is said to be supporting their moves. He has also publicly complained about the delay in resettling the evictees.

Analysts say ODM would be doomed in the Rift Valley should the MPs leave. It would leave Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s campaign team in the South Rift punctured.

Perhaps this is what prompted the PM to convene a meeting of ministers from his half of the coalition in office mid this week after the Mau issue exploded.

Meeting with PM

Mr Odinga also summoned representatives of the evicted families for a meeting to discuss the matter. The PM’s spokesman, Dennis Onyango was quoted as confirming the meeting with the families, next week.

Although Mr Langat, one of Mr Odinga’s fiercest defenders in the South Rift denied any plans to defect from ODM, the region is abuzz with talk that he and his colleagues were preparing to join another party — either Mr Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP) or the United Democratic Movement (UDM).

There are strong indications that Mr Bett, the three MPs and remnants of ODM in the region could be decamping to UDM, whose chairman is former deputy chief of staff Major General John Koech.

Besides the Mau issue, Mr Bett is said to be unhappy with the PM for not picking him as his running mate.  Mr Odinga is torn between Mr Bett and Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey for the number two slot.

“I have not spoken to them but I know they are coming to UDM which is a popular party in the region. I think they have read the mood on the ground and they want to be identified with us,” Gen Koech told The County Weekly.

“They are sending a coded message to Raila. The issue is just a strategy for them to exit from ODM,” say Cllr Tuimising Tengecha of Narok South.

Political observers say President Kibaki’s inner cycle may have celebrated when Mr Odinga took up the Mau restoration campaign with gusto because they knew it would be his soft underbelly.

They say the Kibaki team knew evicting the families from the forest would spark protests and make him an enemy.

The Government evicted 15,000 families from the 146,800-hectare Maasai Mau in 2005 only for them to be allowed back by Kibaki in 2007 when he was seeking a third term in State House.

But the MPs say their protests to the PM were genuine. “We are speaking for the voiceless,” Mr Langat said during a function at St Catherine Catholic Church in Bomet last week.

He added: “We want all our people who have been displaced including the Talai community to be resettled before next year’s elections. This is not a request but a constitutional right for all Kenyans.”

The MPs said the resettlement would be a key issue in the region during the electioneering period, adding campaigning for ODM in South Rift would be difficult if the evictees were not given land.

Sotik MP Joyce Laboso was categorical that the country cannot go to the polls when there were thousands of IDPs, including Mau evictees in camps, saying the evictees are leading deplorable lives in the various camps in Kuresoi district.

Orengo criticised

The MPs criticised Lands minister James Orengo for withholding Sh1 billion that had been set aside for the resettlement, saying Mr Odinga cannot expect them to campaign for him when their people are living in squalid conditions and dying of hunger and diseases in the camps.  But Mr Orengo has denied the charge.

Mr Odinga’s opponents have cashed in on the row to hit him hard.

Mr Ruto recently in Narok County that since they were evicted, 57 people including children and the elderly have died of diseases.

The MPs’ statements, observers say, is a clear that they want to decamp from ODM to URP where their constituents have long wanted them to be or risk defeat in the next polls.

Early last week, Mr Bett led three of his South Rift colleagues to the Prime Minister’s office where they cited the resettlement of the Mau evictees as the reason they would find it hard to campaign for him in the forthcoming polls.

Popular move

The decision by Mr Bett, Mr Kones, Mr Langat and Dr Laboso to resign from a Government team spearheading the resettlement process is a big blow to the PM who all along has trusted them with the delivery of crucial Kalenjin votes as he seeks to succeed President Kibaki.

Chepalungu MP Isaac Rutto has said he was happy the MPs were planning to leave ODM.

Mr Rutto says the Mau restoration exercise has displaced many families and adds that whoever finds alternative settlement for them will be as popular as the person who invented fire.

But Maasai MPs led by Heritage Minister William ole Ntimama have supported Mr Odinga’s efforts to save the Mau.

“The restoration of Mau is a very important agenda for the Prime Minister. He should soldier on and save and restore it even if it means losing his political ambitions. He should not be intimidated by anyone or a group of people,” says Mr Ntimama.

Narok South MP Nkoidila Lankas says it was wrong for Mr Bett and his colleagues to walk out on the PM when they had immensely benefited from him.

“It is a shame that they are holding Raila to ransom yet they have been appointed ministers. I think they are looking for an excuse to leave and it will be a blow to the OPM,” said Mr Lankas.

The chairman of the Mau Steering Committee, Hassan Noor says the resignation of the MPs from the task force will not deter the conservation of the forest but regrets that it had robbed the task force of the political goodwill needed to meet the objectives.?

“Though it will slow down the conservation and rehabilitation process, we will soldier on. The move is regrettable,” said Mr Noor.