ODM MPs warn Ruto against attacking Raila, threaten impeachment

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) legislators have warned Deputy President William Ruto and his allies against attacking ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Led by Party Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna, the MPs on Sunday castigated Ruto accusing him of being against the fight against corruption and discontented with the March 9, 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr. Odinga.

“The handshake was supposed to calm political temperatures and deal with longstanding issues such as corruption. Now you can see that after the war on corruption has been intensified, the corrupt have chosen to politicise this war and they are making noise all over the place and looking for diversions,” said Sifuna at a press address in Nairobi.

“We don’t want to be taken back to the issues that almost split this country. The handshake happened and those still living in the past and want to drag us back into the issues of elections let them not dare ODM because we have wounds that have began to heal and if you want us to reopen that discussion we are very ready.”

Rongo MP Paul Abour warned that they could introduce a motion for the impeachment of DP Ruto “if he continues being an impediment in the war against corruption.”

“If the deputy president continues being an impediment in the fight against corruption, we as leaders are going to put a motion of impeachment of the deputy president in the National Assembly and get him out of office,” said the Rongo MP.

Over the recent past, Odinga and Ruto have been trading angry accusations and counter-accusations in a fierce political duel triggered by the ongoing war against corruption and the close partnership between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the opposition leader.

The deputy president and his allies claim Mr. Odinga is out to wreck the Jubilee boat from within and scuttle Ruto’s  2022 presidential bid.

Last week, however, Odinga dismissed the claims that he has a hidden agenda or any plans to cause division in the ruling party.