Sack Raila and the LDP rebels, MPs urge Kibaki

Ten MPs yesterday urged President Kibaki to sack errant ministers.

They declared the President was letting down Kenyans by failing to contain a revolt in his Government, which they claimed was spearheaded by Roads minister Raila Odinga and other MPs in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

They were particularly angered by what they said was Mr Odinga's "persistent and open" criticism of the President over the new Constitution and the pre-election Memorandum of Understanding

Mr Odinga was recently quoted as urging the President to fullfil his election pledge to give Kenyans a new Constitution by June 30.

The Presbyterian Church of East Africa also urged President Kibaki to sack the Cabinet ministers wrangling over the MoU. Accusing the ministers of holding the country to ransom, the PCEA Secretary-General, the Rev Samuel Murigu, said the President should exercise his executive powers and fire them.

"Those advocating for the implementation of the MoU are serving their private interests," the cleric said, adding that private agreements should not influence the running of Government.

And the MPs, in what they called the Maragua Declaration during the launch of a website for Maragua constituency, said: "No consensus, no Constitution".

The 10 were host MP Elias Mbau, Mr Alfred Nderitu (Mwea), Mr Gachara Muchiiri (Ndaragwa), Mr Peter Munya (Tigania East), Mr Kalembe Ndile (Kibwezi), Mr P.G. Mureithi (Nyeri Town), Mr Nderitu Gachagua (Mathira), Mr Macharia Mukiri (Molo), Mr Martin Wambora (Runyenjes) and Mr Raphael Muriungi (Igembe).

Mr Nderitu told the President: "Wake up and lead the country with the authority of a ruler mandated by all Kenyans."

He added: "The President should not behave like a priest in State House; even Jesus used the whip on wrongdoers. If he can't tell off the rebels or sack them, then he should let Mama Lucy do it."

He said the draft Constitution was tailored to suit the whims of LDP members and was unacceptable to Kenyans.

Mr Ndile likened the rebels to chaff in wheat and said President Kibaki should rid his Government of them because they were hampering development.

"Raila has tested the honey of power and found it is sweet," said Mr Munya.

And he added: "The President should sack rebels or dissolve Parliament to end the bickering."

Mr Mbau said if the LDP leaders were not willing to reach a consensus they should forget about the new Constitution.

Mr Muchiiri added: "The LDP MPs in government should resign from their ministerial positions as Kenyans are fed up with their incessant grumbling and they should know that the Ninth Parliament has enough competent professionals who can fill their positions."

At the same time the MPs turned the heat on the acting Kanu chairman, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, accusing him of lacking discipline and respect for the President.

They took issue with his comments in Kisumu on Friday where he repeated Mr Odinga's remark that the President should provide a Constitution by the June 30 deadline.

Mr Muriithi described Mr Kenyatta as "a spoilt child who is now insulting his own parents".

And Mr Mukiri said: "In constitution making there are no losers or winners: We must have a good Constitution for posterity."

Elsewhere, MPs from Central Kenya – including Mathira leader Nderitu Gachagua – were due to meet today in a show of unity that threatened to blow up in their faces.

For the meeting, the latest in a series aimed at presenting them as a powerful and combined political force, comes against a backdrop of growing discontent in the President's own backyard.

The MPs' rally at Karatina stadium follows consultative meetings and two public rallies, the first at Laikipia last weekend and the second at Maragua yesterday.

Today's rally could be explosive for Mathira constituency, which is at the heart of a feud between Mr Gachagua, and the National Security minister, Dr Chris Murungaru. 

It follows loud complaints by Mr Gachagua that Dr Murungaru has been undermining him by supporting the overt political campaigns of controversial contractor Ephraim Maina, owner of the Kirinyaga Construction Company. 

And Mr Gachagua is not alone among Nyeri MPs in sounding the alarm over the political clout wielded in the district by Dr Murungaru, MP for Kieni, who is viewed as President Kibaki's pointman.

The series of meetings are part of a determined attempt by Central MPs to present a united front in the face of what they see as a coordinated onslaught against the Kibaki presidency by an alliance of Kanu and the LDP. 

The wrangles in President Kibaki's home district even spilled over into Parliament last Wednesday when Mr Gachagua accused Dr Murungaru of orchestrating a campaign to undermine him.

The MP complained the police and provincial administration took no action against two councillors who recently disrupted a leaders' meeting at Karatina Catholic Hall.

Although assistant Security minister Stephen Tarus told Parliament the matter was being investigated, MPs recalled that Mr Gachagua had made similar complaints in front of President Kibaki during his Easter visit to Nyeri, and asked him for his protection. 

"I had to go public. I have tried all avenues, including arbitration by leaders and elders but with no success. The fact that there has been no change in the way the provincial administration and the police treat me as an elected MP," Mr Gachagua told the Sunday Nation. 

Dr Murungaru's security docket covers both the police and provincial administration. 

When contacted last week, Mr Maina denied undermining the MP, saying he was only helping to develop his home area.

Dr Murungaru's personal assistant, Mr Benjamin Gacicio, dismissed the allegations by Mr Gachagua as unfounded and malicious.

"The minister does not deal with district officers and chiefs. If anyone has any questions regarding their performance, he or she should report to the Permanent Secretary or the Provincial Commissioner, not the minister," Mr Gacicio said.

Some former MPs are also complaining that they have been shunted aside. 

When Mr Matu Wamae, Mr Gachagua's predecessor as MP rose to speak at State Lodge over Easter, he said the sitting MP should be the last one to complain, "having undercut and undermined me when I was busy in the Presidential campaign".

Mr Wamae lost a bitter battle with Mr Gachagua for the Narc nomination in Mathira, despite being a lifelong friend, political ally and business partner of the President. 

"It is so unfortunate we do not have a common approach to issues; there is a leadership vacuum that needs to be filled," Mr Wamae said in Nairobi this week.

This vacuum in Nyeri, some of the former MPs feel, has led to local personalities not benefiting in spite of President Kibaki being in State House. 

Mr Wamae and Mr Muhika Mutahi brought this out during the Easter visit, only to be upbraided by the President, who stated clearly that his leadership was not based on rewarding his home district. 

"We have been friends for a long time," said Mr Wamae. "I stuck with you through thick and thin, in all the years in the opposition struggle since early 1990s".

He went on: "I was, in fact, undermined in Mathira and defeated by a newcomer because I was too busy traversing the country with you canvassing for votes for your presidential campaign."

Amid applause, Mr Mutahi, former MP for Mukurweini, pressed: "We feel like generals holding empty guns. Our businesses suffered as they were sabotaged because of association with you. You should not forsake your loyal generals as doing so could discourage your troops in future." 

Apart from local leaders' fighting and grumbling, there is also the feeling that there is nobody to present their causes to the President. And that is where they fault Dr Murungaru, said to be closest to State House.

They complain, for instance, that Nyeri has lost out in key government appointments to a region like Meru. 

Meru Cabinet ministers like Mr Kiraitu Murungi (Justice and Constitutional Affairs) and Mr David Mwiraria (Finance), they say, have pushed aggressively to place their people in key positions.

Reported by: Claire Gatheru, Gakuu Mathenge and Oliver Musembi.