Differences between Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen and a section of Nandi elected legislators widened after electorates and contractors demanded respect for their will.
They expressed solidarity with their leaders who accused Senior State leaders of deliberately sidelining Nandi in development matters.
This comes after Senator Murkomen clashed with Senator Samson Cherargei over the award of tenders in the area.
Speaking in the local Kalenjn dialect, Murkomen strongly criticised Cherargei for allegedly opposing one of the contractors chosen to pave a road simply because he was not a Kalenjin.
Cherargei advocated for the allocation of a road project to a local contractor, emphasising that the move would benefit the residents.
But a group of residents on Tuesday backed Cherargei.
The groups, Nandi Contractors Association, Saw Milling Association and youth leadership said they were treating with contempt statements made by the CS during a funeral at Kapnyamisa in Chesumei constituency.
Nandi leaders led by Senator Cherargei and Woman representative Cynthia Muge expressed outrage over the allocation of Sh24m for road maintenance under KERRA in the area.
The two lawmakers accused the CS of being unfair.
They also demanded to know the parameters used to allocate Nandi Sh24m for the murraming of a road that had been earmarked for upgrade into bitumen standards by President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration.
On Monday, Isaac Sang, Benjamin Kuto, and Cosmas Kiptoo also claimed that a petition filed in a high court on the illegality of the Office of Head of Public Service revolved around “road construction cartels”.
Kiptoo who is the president of the Association of Nandi Youths said the petition is sponsored by well-placed personalities within the Kenya Kwanza administration in an attempt to clip the current holder of the office Felix Koskei.
“This is a wider conspiracy against the people of Nandi by those drunk with power. Instead of service delivery to enable President William Ruto and Kenya Kwanza to fulfil the promises he made to the electorate, they are sidelining us,” Kiptoo said.
Kuto said the community would resist any advances undermining their elected leaders since they speak for the silent voters.
“Nobody has appointed CS Murkomen to be the prefect of our leaders. If he wants to be the Kalenjin kingpin, let him deliver,” Kuto said.
Sang who is the chairman of Nandi contractors charged that the CS had stooped too low in trying to give a dressing down to Nandi elected leaders instead of answering the public demands.
“Nandi receives the highest amount of rainfall per annum more than any other region in Kenya, yet it has the lowest number of tarmac roads. Cutting the county KERRA budget is an indicator of the bad intention the ministry has,” Sang said.
He urged the CS to award contracts to upcoming construction firms owned by youths, PWD, women and other groups instead of favouring the established ones even for small amounts.
They spoke in Kapsabet where they warned those trying to lock out Nandi people from developments.