Rashid Echesa in fist fight with MP over Raila comments
What you need to know:
During the rant, the minister dared Mr Odinga to engineer his removal claiming only President Uhuru Kenyatta could sack him.
The row pitting Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa against opposition chief Raila Odinga escalated after an MP allied to the ODM leader engaged in a fist fight with the minister at the Kisumu International Airport.
Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi is said to have started the argument with Mr Echesa over the minister's comments linking Mr Odinga to an alleged plot to kick him out of the Cabinet.
At the weekend, Mr Echesa claimed that his former party leader was not happy with his appointment and had branded him a close ally of the Deputy President William Ruto.
During the rant, the minister dared Mr Odinga to engineer his removal claiming only President Uhuru Kenyatta could sack him.
Sources at the airport revealed to the Nation, the two engaged in a fist fight after Mr Atandi told the minister to 'go to school' during the heated argument on Monday afternoon.
The duo’s aides and airport security intervened to separate them, but the MP was temporarily held before being released.
When contacted, the MP denied being held at the airport but admitted he had a verbal altercation with the minister which “did not escalate into a fight.”
However, his close associates told the Nation, the quarrel started when the MP confronted the minister demanding he shows respect to Mr Odinga, who is a statesman.
Last weekend, nominated MP Mr Godfrey Osotsi threatened to table impeachment motion against Mr Echesa for incompetence if he was not going to apologise for insults he made against Mr Odinga.
Mr Echesa was once Mr Odinga’s muscle man during the Pentagon years of the Orange Democratic Movement ten years ago but has since decamped to the Jubilee Party and is a close ally of Mr Ruto.
When he was nominated a Cabinet secretary, questions arose over his qualification as he has no formal education beyond primary school. The National Assembly endorsed him, largely because opposition Nasa MPs had boycotted sittings at the time and the Jubilee Party had whipped up its members.
Last week, claims emerged that some leaders were plotting to impeach him, a plot the minister claims was hatched by Mr Odinga.
