The leader of the disbanded Kalenjin Council of Elders on Sunday launched an attack on Agriculture minister William Ruto, describing him as �showing some arrogance�. Mr Said Keitany, who was voted out together with his team, said he had no regrets for supporting Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The council was bundled out at a meeting of Rift Valley leaders on Saturday and replaced with a high-powered team, which includes retired generals and top Moi-era officials. It was meant to be a purely cultural affair but has since assumed political dimensions and is being seen as part of a contest for supremacy in Rift Valley by the top command of the Orange party.

On Sunday, Mr Keitany told the Daily Nation he had no apologies for supporting Mr Odinga because �he is the only politician with a reform agenda for Kenya.� He said Mr Ruto faces �a tall order� in dismantling Mr Odinga�s support on the ground, and that the new council will find it difficult to get the community to support the Eldoret North MP who, he said, still displayed �some arrogance�. �They cannot change that (Mr Odinga�s support). People respect my opinion and that is why Raila had faith in me in 2007,� he said.

Mr Keitany claimed Mr Ruto failed in his bid to become the ODM presidential candidate in 2007 because of the strong campaigns they did for Mr Odinga. �Remember Ruto tried to be the ODM candidate in 2007 and failed. He can continue to display his arrogance, but he is still the same Ruto and it will get him nowhere,� he said.

�It requires wide consultations for any decision to be reached on the council of elders, and I doubt if the new council will add to his presidential ambitions,� he said. But he welcomed the new council, saying it was �more inclusive�, but maintained that he will continue to serve his community in other fora.

The new council is chaired by Maj (rtd) John Seii and includes former Chief of General Staff General Daudi Tonje and retired Army commander, Lt General Lazurus Sumbeywo.

Speaking to the Daily Nation, Agriculture minister William Ruto, the leading politician in the Rift Valley, described the removed elders as �imposters� who have been misleading their community through their public statements. The former council was perceived as allied to Prime Minister Raila Odinga. It made a much-publicised visit to Bondo, Mr Odinga�s ancestral home, for a meeting with the Luo Council of Elders in September.

�We have had brokers going round masquerading as the elders of the community and making statements which are taken as the Kalenjin stand, and we are happy that the (new) council will have that responsibility now,� he said. Mr Ruto, who has declared he will vie for the presidency in 2012, had brought together ministers, MPs, former lawmakers and opinion leaders to the Reformed Church of East in Eldoret Town.

Mr Keitany is a long-time ally of the Agriculture minister as is another sacked elder, businessman Jakcson Kibor. The two were in the delegation of elders that visited Mr Odinga at his Opoda farm in Bondo district � which may have been interpreted as an expression of loyalty to the PM.

Mr Ruto said the new team will lead in charting the community�s political destiny, including influencing its political leadership in the national theatre. �The Kalenjin Council of Elders, which has been formed after intense consultations among community leaders, will be able to issue statements representing the true position of the community,� he said.

He said the Keitany team was made up of �self-imposed people who were just political brokers posturing as elders.� Commenting, Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga warned against divisive politics in ODM and said a section of MPs were �fuelling hatred in the party�.

�Some people want to endear themselves to leaders they are allied to for their own political mileage without realising they are splitting the party. We as leaders must learn to engage in constructive politics,� he said. Konoin MP Julius Kones, an ally of Mr Ruto, said the old team of elders was due for the sack because of their political activities.

�The Keitany and Kibor group had its own political interests and could not guide the community well,� he said. Also in the new council is former former assistant minister Elijah Sumbeiywo, the Gen Sumbeywo�s brother, and former deputy speaker Samuel Ng�eny.

The gathering on Saturday was presented as a purely cultural affair but was attended by many of the political heavy-weights of the province, among them Cabinet ministers Franklin Bett, Henry Kosgey, assistant ministers William Cheptumo, Jackson Kiptanui, and MPs Lucas Chepkitony, Benjamin Langat, Isaac Ruto, Joshua Kutuny, David Koech, Julius Kones and Elijah Lagat.

Push interests

Higher education minister Dr Sally Kosgei, assistant minister Charles Keter and MPs Zakayo Cheruiyot, Peris Simam, Prof Margaret Kamar and Joyce Laboso, who were all said to be on official trips abroad, sent apologies, as did Luka Kigen and Sammy Mwaita, who were overseeing the relocation of Internally Displaced Persons.

Mr Bett, the Roads minister, asked the Tonje team to push the community�s interests when the Interim Independent Boundaries Commission, headed by former MP Andrew Ligale, tours the region. Mr Cheptumo, the Justice assistant minister, said the elders will present the community�s memorandum to the Committee of Experts reviewing the Constitution.

Close relatives of cabinet ministers and 2007 election losers are on the latest list of Kenya�s ambassadors and high commissioners.

Four of the new envoys named in the list released by the Foreign Affairs ministry are siblings of cabinet ministers, while four others are parliamentary losers during the last general election.

Also on the list are former provincial administrators believed to have taken sides and furthered the political interests of the three main protagonists during the 2007 presidential election, President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.

The full list of Kenya�s representatives to the 51 fully fledged missions released by the ministry to coincide with the Public Service Week contains the names of Kenya�s new ambassadors and high commissioners or those whose terms have been extended.

That four of the envoys have their siblings in the cabinet while another is a twin brother to an assistant minister of government goes a long way to demonstrate how political connections influence appointments to key positions in government at the expense of merit.

Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka termed the appointments as �demoralising� to career diplomats who had served the country for decades without being appointed to such positions.

�It is very wrong and goes against the spirit of reforming our institutions of governance for people to be appointed simply because they are brothers and sisters of ministers and MPs when we have people who have served in the ministry for as many as thirty years without being made ambassadors,� Mr Onyonka stated.

He called for a law to ensure that even presidential appointments met certain standards.

The appointments also fly in the face of pronouncements by Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno that the government would no longer tolerate not only nepotism but also tribalism in appointments to public service.

Speaking during the launch of the Public Service Week, the PM said the government would take stern action against government officials who practice nepotism and tribalism in making appointments to public service.

Mr Otieno on his part directed government officials heading institutions where tribal balance was not enforced to formulate ways of reversing the trend.

Those in the list include Dr Wenwa Akinyi, Kenya�s Consul General in Los Angeles, USA. Amb. Akinyi is a younger sister to the Prime Minister. Also on the list is Ms Catherine Muigai Mwangi who is Kenya�s ambassador to the Republic of Ireland. Ms Mwangi is a sister of Public Health Minister Beth Mugo and once served as a communications director at Kenya Airways.

Ms Mishi Masika Mwatsahu whose term as Kenya�s High Commissioner to Pakistan has been extended is a sister to Transport minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere while the country�s Permanent Representative to UNESCO is Dr Mary Khimulu, a sister of Co-operatives minister Joseph Nyagah. Ms Mwatsahu was first appointed to the post when her brother served as the Foreign Affairs minister while Dr Khimulu is a long serving official of the World Bible Society.

Prof Sospeter Machage who retains his posting as Kenya�s ambassador to Russia, is on the other hand the twin brother of assistant minister Dr Wilfred Machage. Prior to his appointment, Prof. Machage used to run a private hospital in Kilgoris town.

Contacted, the Foreign Affairs Ministry sought to distance itself from the appointments, saying that the prerogative of picking the country�s ambassadors and high commissioners rests with the President.

�The appointment of ambassadors and high commissioners is the prerogative of the President. They are the President�s representatives overseas so he appoints people he thinks can best represent the country wherever they are,� said the Director of Public Affairs and Communication at the Ministry, Prof Egara Kabaji.

The head of the Presidential Press Service, Isaiah Kabira also declined to comment on the appointments when contacted, saying that he had to study the list first.

�I need to establish its authenticity first, then we can discuss it,� he told the Nation.

Another ambassador with family ties with a top official in the grand coalition is Elkanah Odembo, Kenya�s envoy to France. Mr Odembo is a brother in law to the government chief whip, Jakoyo Midiwo.

Among politicians who lost during the last general elections only to find their way to plum ambassadorial positions include former Kilome MP Mutinda Mutiso.

Mr Mutiso contested the seat on Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka�s ODM-Kenya ticket but lost to Transport Assistant minister John Harun Mwau. Mr Mutiso has since posted to Dar es Salaam to head the Kenyan mission.

Stephen Tarus, a former assistant minister who resisted the huge ODM wave in the North Rift to unsuccessfully defend his Emgwen seat on a PNU ticket is the new high commissioner to Australia, a key diplomatic posting.

Another huge beneficiary of political horse trading is one time powerful security minister Julius Sunkuli, who stepped aside to give the PNU candidate Gideon Konchella a head-start in the Kilgoris by-election.

For his troubles, Mr Sunkuli is the country�s ambassador to Beijing, China, another coveted diplomatic posting. Before his posting, the once powerful minister was running a law firm based at Bruce House in Nairobi.

Mr Kembi Gitura, Kenya�s new ambassador to Brussels, Belgium and the European Union also lost his Kiharu seat during the last elections only to land the plum job, as is Kenya�s new man in Vienna, Austria, immediate former North Horr MP Ukur Yatani.

Former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner, Francis Sigei who was accused in some quarters of playing a partisan role in the last election is the new high commissioner to Nigeria.

Other former provincial administrators who have found their way to the diplomatic world include Franklin Esipila, the new Kenya ambassador to Ethiopia and John Abduba who is Kenya�s high commissioner to Zimbabwe.

The ministry joins a long list of government agencies that have come under scrutiny over the manner in which appointments to key posts have been made.