Senator Moi blames political enemies for Nandi chaos

Baringo Senator Gideon Moi has blamed his political nemesis in the vote-rich Rift Valley for his ‘humiliation’ on Saturday morning in Nandi county.

During the incident, Senator Moi's journey to Kapsisiywa, Nandi County, cut short by rowdy youths.

Senator Moi, who is also Kanu party chairman, was on this way to a meeting with Christopher Koyogi, the dethroned vice-chairman of Talai Council of Elders.

But a rowdy group, said to be of supporters of Deputy President William Ruto, used tyres, logs and debris to block Chepterit-Baraton-Sang'alo road at Kimondi.

They accused Senator Moi and Mr Koyogi of going against the traditional ways of the Talai clan, pertaining to coronation of leaders. 

Senator Moi’s office condemned the incident, terming it an act of cowardice.

"We view this as an act of cowardice by well-known political detractors whose main pre-occupation has always been desperate attempts to curtail the ever growing influence of other leaders in the region and to suppress the democratic space for their own selfish interest,” the Senator said in a statement sent to newsrooms.

“We wish to take this opportunity to commend the innocent youth, some of whom have confessed as having been hired to cause mayhem, for the civil manner they conducted themselves despite being incited to act in the contrary,” the statement further read.

Senator Moi also said no amount of intimidations or coercion will thwart his grassroots political engagements ahead of the 2022 General Election.

“I wish to reaffirm that this is just the beginning of the series of activities the Senator has embarked on to reach out to the people of Kenya and neither violence nor intimidation will stop him,” reads the statement signed by Senator Moi’s Secretary of Press Joseph Towett.

Supremacy battle

During the early morning incident, some of the youths who blocked the senator wondered why the senator decided to visit the Talai clan without being accompanied by local leaders such as Nandi Governor Stephen Sang.

Senator Moi is said to have pleaded in vain with them, noting Rift Valley residents loved his father, the late former President Daniel arap Moi.

Recently, while addressing Kanu delegates drawn from various counties in the Rift Valley, the senator told the Deputy President and his foot soldiers to desist wooing voters with promises of developments after 2022.

Senator Moi told DP and allies that the time to work for electorate is now.

“Our people deserve development now, let us not postpone these developments to after 2022. This is the right time to deliver and I will work with all the leaders who are ready for our people,” he said.

Mr Moi, who has not made much inroad in the vote-rich Rift Valley like DP Ruto, revealed his intentions to comb every corner of the region and beyond to seek endorsements ahead of next year's polls.

“Because we have time, energy and resources, we are going to visit everywhere in this country and it has just started,” he said.

The comes in the wake of reemerging political realignments emerges in the vote-rich region with independence party Kanu and Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) on one side and Dr Ruto and his allies on the other end, a move which is likely to reshape the 2022 succession politics.