Ruto fights from the periphery

Pushed away from project launches and purged from the centre of government, Deputy President William Ruto is charting a lonely path to the 2022 polls, the shadows of his failed predecessors trailing him. 

He has transformed his official Karen residence into a combination of a prayer sanctuary for his arduous journey, a donation centre for his political fans, an innovation hub for his hustler nation, and his political mobilisation capital. 

From the centre of power - trotting across the breadth and width of the country to launch projects and announce upcoming ones - Ruto has, in a span of months, been reduced to a spectator in government, domiciled permanently in Karen, except when attending private events over the weekend. 

The civil service bureaucracy, the engine that runs government, has further drifted away from him. In the wake of a heightened purge, his support base within Jubilee has shrunk, hibernated, ducked or is being intimidated by the combined might of party and State. 

But keen to exorcise the ghosts of second-term vice presidents who are slowly pushed into irrelevance by succession politics, Ruto is determined to go down fighting. On Tuesday, he took on his own government, accusing it of abusing police and the criminal justice system to bully citizens, threaten leaders and blackmail the Senate. 

“Wrong. Very wrong. It’s not the reason millions woke up early to vote for us,” he tweeted. His woes evoke memories of the bitter experiences his predecessors endured.  

By the time he was sacked in the run-up to 2002 election, and despite having built himself an impressive network in civil service and politics, late vice president George Saitoti was a total stranger in government. 

In the run-up to 2013 election, former vice president Kalonzo Musyoka was a figurehead at Jogoo House A, given to diplomatic speeches and political niceties. So estranged was he, alongside then Prime Minister Raila Odinga, that they hastily cobbled a losing coalition. 

Before him in 2007, Moody Awori had been left to delight in his fashionable shorts, colourful hats and his smoking pipe as the system took a flight from him. In the ensuing election, he was floored by Paul Otuoma and resigned to his fate ever after. 

Can’t quit

“The ideology of the two, the president and his deputy, is like oil and water. They cannot mix. One wants politics shelved so that he can focus on service, and the other started campaigning in 2014. And yet there is nothing unusual in a president and the deputy differing, except that this time round, the DP does not have the courage to quit,” ODM MP Junet Mohamed told The Standard. 

According to him, the DP’s official residence is now a fully-fledged campaign centre and chapel. He says rather than camouflage himself as a government official when he no longer moves things in government, he ought to quit. 

“He became an ordinary citizen long ago. Only the motorcade and the flag have remained, but otherwise he is just another citizen camouflaging as a senior government official. His Tuesday statement confirmed as much,” Junet said.

But the DP’s side is having none of it. Yesterday, his communications director, Emmanuel Tallam, denounced the impression that the DP was fighting his own government and that he had been reduced to a spectator. 

Tallam said the Tuesday statement can only be re-examined by the DP if it was confirmed that the acts of police brutality meted out on senators were an official government policy. He said the DP was comfortable in government and only the millions who elected him could alienate him. 

“The DP has said he is the deputy president. This cannot be in doubt. It is up to those who have that impression that he is not to explain how that is so. It is unfair to shift the burden of proof to him when he is firmly in office and executing his mandate,” Tallam said. 

But others like constitutional lawyer Kennedy Echesa believe where there is smoke there is fire. In fact, according to Echesa, the DP’s Tuesday criticism of the police was a turning point. It finally confirmed that the marriage between him and President Uhuru Kenyatta is broken, and that a formal divorce is a question of when, not if. He said Ruto is now a DP on paper. 

He drew parallels to the 1966 disagreement between President Jomo Kenyatta and Vice President Jaramogi Odinga when the latter resigned. 

“It is utter hypocrisy to complain about a government you are serving in a senior capacity like the DP. In his voice of desperation crops up an image of a fighter who no longer cares what his boss thinks of him. He is slowly becoming aggressive in his new assignment as a rebel from within. It is only a matter of time before the DP begins an all-out war against his boss,” Echesa said. 

Tallam rejects any comparison made between the DP and past vice presidents, including Jaramogi.

“This is the first time we are having a deputy president. The vice presidents were appointees of the president. DP Ruto was twice elected by the people of this country and it is only those people who can alienate him through a vote,” he said. 

In recent months, Ruto has made it clear he is spectating within the government. While the government is busy working on Covid-19 mitigation as well as other projects, he has been hosting religious leaders at ‘worship’ meetings. 

In the last one month, he has hosted close to 10 religious events in Karen; either on worship or consultation. On Tuesday this week, he hosted Baringo-based faith leaders while last Thursday he was hosting African Inland Church leaders from Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties led by Bishop Daniel Nzioka. On August 6, he hosted the board of the AIPCA church led by their chairman David Ndumia. On the same day, he held a “development meeting” with political and religious leaders from Narok. 

The day before, he was worshipping in Karen with members of the East Africa Pentecostal Church led by Bishop Geoffrey Muthinja. On July 30, a weekday, he worshipped with religious leaders from Nakuru at the official residence. On Tuesday that week, he had held “consultations” with the Federation of Evangelical and Indigenous Churches of Kenya to discuss the “integral role of the church and faith leaders, practically and pastorally, in responding to the Covid-19 crisis through advocacy and awareness creation.” 

July 23 was a busy day for him as religious robes trooped in and out of Karen. Fresh from worshipping with clergy from various churches in Kirinyaga County the previous day, he hosted religious leaders from Baringo, Nairobi, Kiambu, Murang’a and Laikipia counties. 

On the same day, he switched gears and hosted elders from Rift Valley led by Gilbert Kabage, Joel Koech and Joseph Nyakundi. But every day has not been a worship day for the DP at Karen. The residence is also used to stage charity shows. 

Ruto has been doling out charity through his ‘hustler nation’ project co-ordinated by his bloggers. During the day, the lush gardens change into a showground for innovations or branded donations through which political support is procured. On Thursday last week when he was hosting Ukambani AIC leaders, he had another set of guests; young poet Vasity Chebet from Chepalungu, and a duet of Teresia Wakinyua and James Mwangi from Nyandarua whom he said reminded him of his childhood. 

“To ensure they have a stable foundation to make their dreams come true, I have assigned my farm manager to personally ensure their parents establish a fully funded 500-chicken farm,” he said. 

More guests

On July 30, Ruto hosted groups from Makueni who gifted him with rhino carvings. A few days earlier, he had paraded the Ngong Boda Boda Sacco’s new matatu, water tanks, catering equipment, public address system, car wash and tailoring machines. On July 21, he hosted another set of special visitors - Mzee Wambugu and Mama Wanjiru, who brought him cassavas and yams: “It is such a humbling gesture. I look forward to a tasty meal of mìanga (cassava). May God bless you abundantly so that you can feed many more.” 

The day before, he had gifted a young mother from Kandara a car and promised to follow up on her daughter’s schooling. Earlier, he hosted volunteer community health workers engaged in the Covid-19 fight.

Ruto also hosts political meetings and spares time to tweet. In the last month, he has hosted meetings with political leaders from Kajiado South, Nyamira and Kisii counties. It is these things that are keeping him busy as he is emasculated in government by the combined might of President Kenyatta and Opposition chief Raila Odinga.