Murang’a Senator Irungu Kanga’ta has been axed as the Senate Majority Chief Whip.
His position has been taken by Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi.
Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju says that while Kang’ata was within his rights to express his opinion to the President, the party had an issue with the manner in which he did it.
He added that Kang’ata was later invited to a meeting and asked to apologise but he declined.
Tuju said the senator also declined to attend a Parliamentary leadership meeting.
Tuju confirmed the ouster moments after Deputy President William Ruto’s allies stormed out of the Senate Parliamentary Group meeting protesting what they termed as an illegal and crooked plan to remove Kang’ata as Senate Majority Whip.
Addressing journalists at KICC on Tuesday, the nine Senators led by Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Meru Senator Mithika Linturi said they walked out of the room after members were asked to sign a form to sanction Kangata’s removal.
Murkomen said the process was illegal as there were no showcase letters to Kang’ata before the decision was made.
Kang’ata has been at cross paths with the party leadership after he penned a letter to the President discrediting the Bulling Bridges Initiative’s popularity in Central. The letter has been interpreted as disrespect to the party leader.
All the Jubilee Senate PG meetings chaired by the President last year ended in key allies of the DP being removed from their positions.
Murkomen was dewhipped as Majority leader while his Nakuru counterpart Susan Kihika was removed from the majority whip position.
The meeting also ratified the removal of Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki as Senate Deputy Speaker.
Jubilee Party has already kicked out six senators in the latest purge of rebels allied to Deputy President William Ruto.
Nominated senators Isaac Mwaura, Millicent Omanga, Victor Prengei, Falhada Dekow Iman, Naomi Jillo Waqo and Mary Seneta Yiane were expelled by the National Management Committee — Jubillee’s top organ.
Jubilee secretary-general Raphael Tuju announced the expulsions Monday, hours after Ruto met more than 100 Tanagatanga MPs at his Karen residence.
Last month, Kang’ata conceded that his time as Senate Majority Whip might be nearing its dusk.
The Senator while on an interview with vernacular station Inooro on January 10, 2021, revealed that there was already a plot within the Jubilee Party to relieve him of his duties in the upper house.
Kang’ata also stated that he had been left out of a Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) team formulated to spearhead sensitisation campaigns for the report in the Mount Kenya region.
Kang’ata stated that he was ready for any consequences that may be thrown his way, reiterating that he felt obliged to tell President Uhuru Kenyatta the truth. He stated that he wrote the letter out of good faith and is still loyal to President Kenyatta.
He maintained that the BBI report was still unpopular in the Mt Kenya region. He reiterated that he only wrote the letter dated December 30, disowning one dated January 4, 2021.
The Murang’a lawmaker conceded he regrets the letter leaked to the public and the outcome of the entire situation that has since backed him into the receiving end of criticism from various quarters of pro-BBI leaders.
Kang’ata also alleged that he had received threats on his life and he had recorded a statement with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
In an interview earlier January 11, the Senate Majority Whip argued that some political factions in the country had ideas that need to be incorporated in the report, terming them good.
