Alfred Keter asks DP William Ruto to stay away from Jubilee primaries

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has asked the top Jubilee Party leadership not to meddle in the party primaries.

Speaking during a public rally at Kesses in Uasin Gishu County when President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto addressed the public after launching the construction of the Kesses-Lessos road, Mr Keter said local leaders should be left to deal with party primaries at wards, constituencies and county levels.

“I would like to inform the DP and the President to stay away from the party nominations on the ground... We need to be left to battle it out amongst ourselves,” Keter said.

The vocal legislator said the Jubilee leaders on the ground are well-placed to ensure the best candidates get tickets to contest in the 2017 elections.

THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE

“Issues of Uasin Gishu, Nandi Hills and Kapseret should be left to Governor Jackson Mandago, myself and Oscar Sudi. We will deal with the nomination processes competitively and bring out the candidates preferred by the electorate,” Keter said.

The legislator reiterated his commitment to working within the Jubilee government, saying that he had not left the party as widely perceived.

Sudi, who received thunderous applause from the residents just as his colleagues Keter and Mandago, said he had not been in good terms with Ruto for some time but fully supports Jubilee’s re-election.

TWISTS AND TURNS

“Politics is full of twists and turns and in the course of making our people’s genuine concerns known to the top Jubilee leadership, we have been perceived as rebels and Kanu supporters. But all of us have been in Kanu at one point and it should not be the basis of receiving cold treatment,” Sudi said.

The leaders, who recently seemed to be at loggerheads with the DP, used the presence of the President to launch their political redemption campaigns.

This was after Ruto, who was coordinating the event where several road construction projects were launched, denied Keter and Sudi opportunities to address the public despite the crowds calling on the MPs to speak.

But the MPs, while in Kesses, swiftly moved to reiterate their support for Jubilee and called on the President to talk to Ruto so that he could stop undermining their political careers.