Abagusii Council of Elders chairman Araka Matundura addresses the press in his office in Kisii Town on December 21, 2016 where they demanded that Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo apologises for 'insulting' President Uhuru Kenyatta. PHOTO | AGGREY OMBOKI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Summary
- The Mbita lawmaker was on Tuesday caught on camera making what appeared to be offensive and derogatory remarks directed at President Kenyatta regarding his legitimacy as President and ability to govern the country.
- Led by their chairman, Mr Araka Matundura, the council members warned leaders in the country against making inflammatory utterances that could plunge Kenya into civil strife.
The Abagusii Council of Elders has asked Mbita Member of Parliament Millie Odhiambo to apologise for insulting President Uhuru Kenyatta.
They said her utterances in the precincts of Parliament were shameful and intended to demean the President and his office.
The Mbita lawmaker was on Tuesday caught on camera making what appeared to be offensive and derogatory remarks directed at President Kenyatta regarding his legitimacy as President and ability to govern the country.
Led by their chairman, Mr Araka Matundura, the council members warned leaders in the country against making inflammatory utterances that could plunge Kenya into civil strife.
“We witnessed a similar situation in the run-up to the 2007 polls and what followed afterwards was violence on an unprecedented scale. It is our sincere appeal to leaders to avoid inciting a repeat of the same unfortunate circumstances,” Mr Matundura said when they addressed the press at their office in Kisii town on Wednesday.
He reminded the legislator that the President had been elected by Kenyans and was therefore their legitimate choice to lead them as Head of State.
“Any attempt to ridicule or cast aspersions on his person is a direct attack on the choice of the millions of Kenyans who elected him into office, as well as the millions of citizens who depend upon him to oversee state affairs,” said Mr Matundura.
He that the politics laced with insults, innuendo and personal attacks would not bode well for national integration.
The council’s secretary Mr Bosire Angwenyi asked the MP to apologise to Mr Kenyatta for her outburst adding that it had lowered her dignity in the eyes of her colleagues and citizens.
“We don’t expect a respected leader of Ms Odhiambo’s stature to stoop to such extents merely to prove a point while protesting. As a trained lawyer, we would have expected her to look for better ways to express her dissatisfaction with issues regarding him,” he said.
He said the legislator’s attack on President Kenyatta had only served to rally Kenyans behind him.
“We will not stand by and watch our constitutionally-elected president suffer the indignity of abuse while still legally in office. She must withdraw her comments about him and apologise immediately,” he said.
“By publicly disrespecting a man who is in charge of the nation, she has breached hallowed tenets of African tradition and can even attract the ‘chira’ curse in her Luo culture,” said Mr Angwenyi.
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