By Patricia Mollyne Mataga
President William Ruto has said that that the role of Members of Parliament does not confine them within Constituencies that they have been elected.
Instead, the head of state says, MPs have a mandate that requires them to move across the country.
In what has been seen as an indirect response to his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, Ruto asked legislators to make it a habit of moving countrywide.
The movement, the President said will enable the legislators to have a clear grasp of issues of the people that need legislation.
“Members of Parliament oversight role extends beyond their constituencies; they have to get out of their constituencies, go to the next place, and understand Kenya because they are responsible for the laws that govern the entire country,” Ruto said during a church service in Kimilili, Bungoma County on Sunnday.
The President’s stand is however the opposite of that taken by DP Gachagua.
Last week, while in Eldoret town, the second in command hit out at MPs he accused of moving from one constituency to another.
He asked them to focus on serving the people that elected them.
“You have been elected elsewhere, what interest do you have in Kesses. Stay in your constituency,” Gachagua said.
The statement is believed to have been directed to Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi.
Sudi had previously clashed with Kesses MP CPA Julius Ruto.
CPA Ruto, serving for the first term had accused Sudi of undermining him.
But a day after DP Gachagua made the statement, the Kapseret MP replied insisting that no one will stop him from criss crossing the country.
“Were it not that we moved around the country seeking for votes from Kenyans, we would not have formed this government,” the vocal MP said.
The latest statement from the President is likely to fuel further claims of a fallout within the ruling coalition barely two years into their first term.