For the first time in his political career, ODM leader Raila Odinga stayed clear from the controversial Mau eviction debate, which he was directly linked to by Kipchumba Murkomen.
Instead, at Nyamira on Friday, Raila only left the topic to ODM brigade led by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed.
"Murkomen and his master knows that Raila is not in government. I wonder why he is always obsessed with Raila," said Junet.
In 2013, Jubilee team led by President Uhuru Kenyatta used the Mau forest evictions agaisnt Raila, a move that saw the latter losing support.
An ODM insider says that Raila is keen to avoid the debate since it's Ruto who publicly authorised evictions.
"He knows it's a trap by Ruto who for record authorised the evictions. He did proper research on the matter and you won't see him talking.
"He is encouraged by the fact that he's not in government at that is why he didn't respond to Murkomen," said the source.
On Wednesday, the Senate Majority Leader ignited the debate, accusing handshake politics between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta of allegedly orchestrating evictions.
However, in May, as part of government policy, DP Ruto called for evictions from the forest.