Ruto should not shout down any Opposition leader trying to question Jubilee’s performance so far

Deputy President William Ruto’s latest request to “losers  in the 2013 general elections” to keep quiet and wait for 2017 General Election to try their luck again should not go unchallenged. It smells of political mischief, if not a weird form of disguised “political apartheid”.

The former DP uttered those shocking words in Lugari, which is a stone throw away from his Sugoi home, near Turbo. It was during the funeral service of the mother of Cyrus Jirongo.

One cannot tell what provoked the Deputy President to utter those words. Whether it was a communication of the Jubilee government’s official position of their expectations of  the country’s Opposition leaders  or not, that brought him out as an unrepentant crusader against democracy and political pluralism.

This coming at a time when the country has gone more than a whole generation into multi-party era; complete with a new democratic constitution with enhanced civil liberties and greater rights for citizens and Opposition leaders to participate fully in matters of governance; Kenyans are shocked. It is worse when such utterances are by a young, more educated and politically widely experienced leader.

One could conclude that  Ruto may have been provoked by some sprinkling of requests by a section of leaders from Western Kenya, who were in attendance, and who lamented the sidelining of their community in this Jubilee government. However, the seriousness with which he  uttered the words and the emphasis he put to it points to a wider picture and bigger target for the vitriol. He should have been hitting at the main opposition:- CORD, and its leadership, who the Jubilee leadership has kept on nagging to “lie low like an envelope”, simply because “Jubilee won the 2013 elections” and should be allowed to fulfill its mandate.

All international Community sponsored post mortems of the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence (PEV) commissions categorically singled out politics of exclusion, negative ethnicity, historical injustices and  the politics of “winner takes it all” for the wild and murderous explosion of political grievances after the bungling of the 2007 General Election. Ruto should know this better since he was a key member of the ODM team to the Dr Kofi Annan that created the probe committees and oversaw the peace agreement.

It is a pity that barely one election later, Ruto stands in public in front of Kenyans to propagate politics of exclusion.

Simply translated, he told the country something like: “Those who lose elections must shut up and keep off any governance, democracy or national welfare issues discourse”.

In the language of dictators, the message could as well be translated as: “Shut up! You have no right to raise your voice on anything! We are in charge!”

Very strange! Is this the type of national leadership that we have to endure in the 22nd century?  Kenyans do not need dictators in this age and time. This is the type of language that should be considered as “hate speech” because it seeks to isolate and discriminate some citizens from participating in governance and management of national affairs.

Constitutionally, the Opposition has its undisputed mandate. Ruto should accept that fact. Nobody is seeking his job.

It is obvious that Ruto and other Jubilee leaders are feeling the heat of CORD’s ongoing agitation for improved governance and reforms in the security sector. This heat could be running them “scared and mad” in confusion. But they should not resort to reckless options for survival.

They should instead wake up and serve us well, or quit.

It is very important to remind us all leaders that this country belongs to all Kenyans all the time, regardless of any position one may have acquired, whichever way. The constitution (article 1(2)) expressly protects and guarantees this reality.