Turkana Governor Josephat Nanok has dismissed claims the he quit Orange Democratic Movement party, insisting that he's still a member.
ODM replaced Mr Nanok in June and subsequently replaced him with Loima MP Jeremiah Lomorukai, who is now the acting Vice Chairman, jointly with Janet Ong'era.
On Friday, Mr Nanok told off his critics within the party, arguing that he's still involved in the party. According to him, he's still the Vice Chairman of the Orange party.
While dispelling alleged sour relationship with Raila Odinga, Mr Nanok on Friday hailed the veteran leader as his mentor, adding that he still respects him.
"I want to thank you Prime Minister for visiting us. I wanted to invite every leader to this county to celebrate with us. You been with us and you've visited us very many times. I respect you, I learnt a lot in politics through you because we are in the same party.
"Even up to now, I'll continue respecting you.I will respect my party, which is ODM. I am still in ODM. I am still the Vice Chairman. I have not quit. The process to remove me has not been completed. I am still there because we don't know the future," said Nanok.
Before giving the final remarks, Nanok had accused Raila Odinga of ignoring Turkana region in his handshake plans.
He claimed that only Nyanza was benefiting from the truce between Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“We discovered that the hare was distributed in Nyanza and a bit of the meat was shared in Western and the Coast. Here in Turkana where we fought so hard for the party, we have nothing to show. If this is what had me ejected from the party, then so be it!” he charged.
In his speech, Odinga had denied forcing Nanok out of the party, arguing that he had voluntarily chosen to work with Deputy President William Ruto.
“No one kicked Nanok out of the party, if he wants to come back he is free to do so,” Odinga responded.