Oscar Sudi warns politicians against tribal groupings

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi addressing worshipers at Kipkorgot AIC church where he presided over a fundraiser in aid of the church in Eldoret on May 26, 2024. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi has hit out at Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over what he termed ethnic and divisive politics.

Sudi challenged Gachagua to emulate President William Ruto in preaching unity among Kenyans irrespective of where they come from.

Speaking at Amalemba Friends Church in Kakamega town, yesterday, where he presided over a funds drive, the lawmaker called for unity among leaders across the country and warned Mt Kenya politicians against championing for fueling regional politics.

“We want Kenya to be one, I should feel at home when I am outside my home area and we should stop politics of ethnicity, we want Mt Kenya leaders to stop regional politics, it should not be about Mt Kenya affairs always but the affairs of Kenya as a whole,” said Sudi.

“Recently I was in one of the local radio stations and I told the Mt Kenya leaders to stop tribal politics, because they are not only the people of Mt Kenya, they live in almost every part of the country and that is a good thing, their region is Kenya and not Mt Kenya," he added.

The MP said leaders should not reduce their people to regional and tribal grouping.

“We do not want to hear sentiments and announcements such as 'we are the people of Mt Kenya, we are Luhyas from Western or Kalenjins', we do not want leaders to reduce their people into a local ethnic grouping. We want Kenya to be one and politics of tribe should not take any central role in our leadership,” said Sudi.

The outspoken lawmaker welcomed President Ruto's sentiments during the 61st Madaraka Day in Bungoma that all people should be treated equally and benefit from the national resources.

“I want to thank our president very much because he said all Kenyans are equal and besides the coffee farmers getting bonuses the sugar cane farmers should also get bonuses and that is the Kenya we want. We don’t want a country where a leader just thinks of his/her people that they should be the only benefiting from national resources,” he said.

Sudi urged Kenyans not to elect leaders based on their tribe but vision and leadership qualities.

He urged leaders to emulate opposition chief Raila Odinga who has resolved to work with President Ruto for the sake of Kenyans.

“We all know what happened during the 2022 General Election and that is behind us, our elder Raila Odinga has decided to work with our President and the head of state is spearheading his candidature for the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson, we did not do that based on tribalism,” he said.

“We saw some people saying we should have supported someone else for the AUC chairperson position, we should stop tribalism and live in harmony,” he added. 

Sudi vowed to continue traversing the country to preach unity and development.

“I have seen others saying I should stop moving around because they have seen me helping people, I want to tell them I will continue moving around and helping people to build churches, educate our children and do development work for the rest of my life,” he said.

Last month the Deputy President warned a section of Rift Valley MPs against going to other constituencies to destabilise their colleagues from achieving their mandate saying that every lawmaker should stay in his or her constituency.

Mumias East MP Peter Salasya urged Sudi to continue traversing the country and join other leaders in helping the people.

Salasya said unity and love have seen the region gain a lot in terms of development and appealed to President Ruto to fully revive the sugar sector, expand the Kakamega airstrip to a fully-fledged airport and complete and equip the Kakamega Level Six Hospital.

“As leaders, we should work together and unite our people and that is why our leader Raila Odinga joined forces with President Ruto and we should emulate that. We have seen the fruits of unity and Western region is benefiting, that is why I want to urge our President to complete our referral hospital, revive the sugar sector and Mumias Sugar factory, and finish the expansion of Kakamega Airstrip,” he said.