Besieged Ruto now eager for alliances with leaders he maligned

President William Ruto during Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi, on December 12, 2024. [File, Standard]

His ability to inspire confidence and command public respect is on the wane. Snide remarks, silhouettes and caricatures circulating on social media attest to this. He is more vulnerable than any of Kenya’s previous four presidents.

In 2008, a besieged President Mwai Kibaki consented to a government of national unity that on-boarded the opposition. In question at the time was the legitimacy of the 2007 presidential election results, yet today, it's Ruto's leadership ability, or lack thereof, that is in focus. 

Kibaki did not require the opposition leader’s input to govern, and it was evident from Raila's constant grumbles that he had no impact on governance; that he was a mere appendage to government that circumstances dictated. His being in government served to assuage the anger of his supporters. 

Ruto, it seems, needs Raila and former President Uhuru Kenyatta to govern after the first chink in his armour was exposed by the June 25, 2024 Gen Z protests that also resulted in the breaching of Parliament. 

A few hours of intense demonstrations overwhelmed the police and later forced the dissolution of the Cabinet. The demonstrations were proof that power lies with the masses. It is left to imagination what would have happened had the youths sustained their onslaught for a few days. 

Assuredness that had come to define Ruto was lost, to be replaced by eagerness to please as he tried to engage the youth on social media where they toyed with him. Those futile engagements on X must have taught him something; that he is not invincible and he needs propping to stay in power. 

The youth protests alarmed the political class, which suddenly realised that a youth uprising fuelled by the need to end corruption, and perhaps driven by socialist ideals, was a threat to them personally and their property, which Pierre Proudhon once described as theft. They needed to regroup to protect their wealth. 

Somehow, Raila, hitherto opposition leader, joined government having also been inveigled by Ruto to contest for the AUC chairmanship. That decision destroyed a decades-long reputation Raila had painstakingly built as a people's defender. Today, many see him as a betrayer to the youth for personal gain. Prayer for him to fail in his AUC quest stems from this. 

With Raila in his corner, Ruto recovered his aplomb and felt secure enough to test the loyalty of the 'murima' region by unceremoniously ejecting his deputy, a true son of the mountain. He won and lost simultaneously because voters in this region have been drifting away from him. It doesn't help matters that the Ruto-Gachagua duo never lost an opportunity to insult Uhuru and his mother. Their perceptions were corrupted by power, and it never occurred to them they would both need Uhuru one day. 

Through nature's cunning, Ruto lost the mountain after casting Gachagua adrift, and it is increasingly getting hostile towards him. This threatens his 2027 re-election bid. It is the reason he swallowed his pride to seek out a man he publicly ridiculed because he belatedly realises he needs Uhuru to mend fences with the mountain. A remorseful Gachagua has on several occasions apologised to Uhuru and his mother for insulting them. 

Having met Uhuru, and should he give some of Uhuru's loyalists Cabinet positions, Ruto will no doubt tell Kenyans his desire is to bring the country together by creating a broad-based government. But, one wonders, where are the hustlers, people living with disabilities and youth in Ruto’s broad-based government, or were they just a means to an end and no longer matter? 

An Uhuru, Raila and Ruto fusion is dangerous for this country. It has the potential to kill democracy, dissent, freedom of expression, increase monopolistic practices and make Kenya an autocratic state with two layers of society: The aristocracy and serfs.