Former Eldoret East Mp Faces Tough Battles For Him Reenter Politics of Uasin Gishu in 2017.
By Isaac Kerich
Former Eldoret East mp Joseph Lagat must be a happy man after Uhuru recently appointed him the chairman of water services parastatal in the country.
Lagat who tried twice to reenter into politics in 2007 and 2013 was defeated by Professor Margret Kamar and Silas Tiren respectively.
The politician has been missing from public limelight since Moibenians rejected him. He is said to be an ‘arrogant’ person whose mouth spewed vitriol endlessly and unkind words to the electorate in his tenure as mp in 2002–2007.
It was the embezzlement CDF money that ultimately gave him the ticket to nirvana from the onslought of angry Moibenians.
However, those who are slow to criticize him have credited Lagat as a man who played a pivotal role in kalenjin politics. One notable event is when he proposed the then Eldoret North mp William Ruto to be crowned the Kalenjin spokesman in 2006.
Kass fm journalist Joshua arap Sang took over the idea and it was then that now DP William Ruto was feted as a Kalenjin Elder at a ceremony held at Eldoret sports Club. It was Joshua Lagat who started it all.
So Joseph Lagat to William Ruto is next to the word deity. In fact their friendship goes back to the days when they used to meet in the university of Nairobi in late 1980’s.
There is more though to Joseph lagat than just a friendship and business savvy attitude with Dp William Ruto. The man is a avid schemer and political strategist behind Uhuru-Ruto 2013 election victory. He is among those who choreographed the infamous tiranny of numbers.
He is a technorat and a daring business virtuoso Ruto admires most even more than Elgeyo Marakwet senator kipchumba Murkomen. In uasin Gishu, his entry into government is seen by people and leaders as a comeback strategy into politics ahead of 2017 elections.
Lagat is rumored to be eyeing the senatorial seat currently under Isaac Meli a nascent politician who came into limelight after rigorously campaigning for the seat. Observers however have pointed out hurdles for Lagat to muster and beat before he gets reelected.
The major hurdle is that the region is under youthful leaders who connects easily with young people who forms and decides the political landscape in Uasin Gishu. Gone are the days when a businessman would come from Mombasa or Nairobi and start dishing out money or talking cheap politics to get elected.
Many politicians who had money and were well connected with the former president Daniel Moi were emptied of their pockets but never saw an increase of ugali in the name of votes in the ballot box.
Instead people like the Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago,Senator Isaac Meli, MCA’s Tirus Ting, Josphat Lowoi and ‘young man’ among many others were elected despite their being new to politics.
Manager Joseph lagat has slim chances of reentering politics of uasin Gishu. May be Dp William Ruto rewards him with an ambasadorial job in Chezelokovakia
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