Nairobi — Ministers who have spoken out over the removal of squatters from the Mau Forest have dared the Prime Minister to sack them. Tourism minister Najib Balala and Livestock assistant minister Aden Duale said they had no regrets over their stand on the Mau evictions.

They spoke at a rally addressed by Agriculture minister William Ruto, who has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the evictions in the Mau, which aim to conserve one of Kenya's key water towers. Mr Balala said the eviction is being conducted in an inhumane way despite the fact that there has been no violence.

"People cannot be treated like animals by the government they elected. It was not proper for the government to evict its own citizens without resettling them elsewhere," he added. Saying the time for vitendawili (riddles) was over, the minister said 2012 would see all the old guard retire and replaced by leaders from the young generation.

"The year 2012 will be the time for the old generation to go out and the young generation to take the reins of power," he said. He disclosed that the William Ruto-Uhuru Kenyatta-Najib Balala axis would sit down to map out strategies to accomplish this. "Between us, we will decide who takes what or leaves what for whom in the run up to the 2012 General Election," he said.

He said "political tourists" would start visiting constituencies of those perceived to be against the new order, a reference he first made to the PM's visit to Chepalungu last weekend. Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto has opposed the evictions and he was absent during the PM's visit to his backyard.

Mr Balala told his colleagues to brace themselves for such visitors who would be sent to take the battle for political supremacy to opponents' turf. Livestock assistant minister Aden Duale called on the President and Prime Minister to show respect for other leaders. "When a leader stands up in a public rally and talks about a tsunami, there is something wrong in leadership," he said.

Mr Duale was referring to Mr Odinga who often employs parables and allegories to drive his points home. He said at a public rally in Kisii that his opponents would be swept away by a political storm. Mr Ruto said the young generation had been taken for a ride for long time and 2012 would be the year to redeem itself.

"In 2002, we made a vital mistake when we invited the old guard to join us because later they met and ganged up to defeat generation change," he said. Mr Ruto said leaders who are fond of "chest-thumping" would face the wrath of the younger generation at the next elections.

"The year 2012 will be a make or break affair for us. We are not going back. We have made up our minds. We are going to liberate this country from the shackles of the old generation," he said. Mr Ruto, Mr Balala and Mr Kenyatta were among a number of prominent politicians who openly opposed the manner in which evictions in the Mau have been carried out and attended a fund raiser in aid of the victims.

The pair now seem to be seeking a new political alliance against Mr Odinga, who has accused the ministers of opportunism and unnecessarily politicising the Mau saga. Elsewhere, Local Government minister Musalia Mudavadi asked politicians to refrain from exciting the passions of wananchi (citizens) in the debate over a new constitution.

He said the debate on the powers of the President and the PM should not be allowed to distract the public from the key issues contained in the document. The Deputy PM said the time had come for Kenyans to put aside their differences and support the process fully. But he said if Kenyans fail to vote for the current draft, it would take a long time for the country to get a new Constitution.

He asked Kenyans not to let politicians hijack the debate on the draft Constitution. Mr Mudavadi said more copies of the draft would be made available to the public so that they could make their views known after reading the document to have them included in the document.

He said a new constitution would be delivered if leaders avoided focusing too much attention to the debate on the powers of the President and the PM in the draft. "There is no constitution that is perfect and what we need to do is take time and look at the draft critically and make our proposals to the Committee of Experts within the stipulated period so that the country can move on," said Mr Mudavadi.

The Sabatia MP was addressing mourners during the burial of Mama Priscilla Abwao, 85 who was the first woman to be nominated to the Legislative Council. Mrs Alice Kirambi, the secretary of Maendeleo ya Wanawake said her organisation would help Kenyans interpret the draft and make meaningful contributions to it. In Lugari, Cyrus Jirongo's constituents were left disappointed when a hyped fund-raiser failed to attract the prominent personalities. Mr Jirongo and Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny used the occasion to highlight the plight of Western Province IDPs.

Reported by Mwakera Mwajefa, Benson Amadala, Peter Ngétich and Kennedy Lumwamu