President Uhuru Kenyatta has thwarted a plan to impeach Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen.
A last minute call from the President on Sunday rescued Murkomen from being ousted from his lucrative role in the Senate, Daily Nation reports.
Plans to kick out Murkomen from the position were in top gear following his remarks last week that were considered an insult to President Kenyatta.
Speaking in Narok last week where thousands of members of his community are being forcefully evicted from the Mau Forest, the Elgeyo-Marakwet senator dared the President to contradict him on the evictions. Murkomen claimed the evictions were being done inhumanely.
“Mr President, today, I want to tell these people that I have come here and I have seen their suffering. I want you to also come to Mau, and tell them whether you stand with (Narok county commissioner George) Natembeya, or the common man who gave you votes,”Mr Murkomen told an excited gathering at Kitoben Primary School in Narok.
His remarks outraged a section of Jubilee leaders led by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, who accused him of disrespecting the Head of State.
Reacting to Murkomen’s sentiments, Jubilee secretary-general Raphael Tuju said the party’s disciplinary committee would analyze the senator’s remarks.
“The party has a disciplinary committee and they will analyse this. If they think they need to summon him, they’ll summon him,” Mr Tuju told journalists at Jubilee House in Nairobi on Sunday.
He added: “On the Mau Forest, a government must do what it has to do to conserve the Mau. If an individual politician, even if it is the Leader of Majority in the Senate comes with a different position, definitely the position of the Executive prevails.”
