Outspoken politician and former Bureti Member of Parliament Franklin Kipn’getich Bett has and is still maintaining a low profile in the recent past. His last stint in the political limelight is when he vied unsuccessfully for Jubilee party nominations in the race to clinch the Kericho senatorial seat in 2017.
Bett joined active politics in 2002 after joining Raila Odinga’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after serving as a civil servant in the ministries of Environmental Conservation and Public Works for years in Moi’s government. He later played a key role in mobilizing votes for NARC presidential candidate at the time Mwai Kibaki against the then KANU predominant Kericho and Bomet areas. After Kibaki's ascension to power, Bett was nominated to Parliament and later elected to chair the parliamentary select committee on Agriculture, Land and Natural resources.
The University of Nairobi commerce graduate and the former headteacher played a key role in leading the people of the Rift Valley in rejecting the draft constitution in the infamous 2005 referendum before trouncing his political rival Paul Sang of KANU to clinch Buret Parliamentary seat in the 2007 elections on an ODM ticket.
In February 2009, he was appointed Minister for Roads following the demise of his predecessor Kipkalya Kones and is credited for various road expansions and infrastructure developments, key among them being the Thika super highway which commenced construction during his tenure.
He currently chairs the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) after being appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.