Political betrayal that ties of faith, prayers couldn't conquer

 

When former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and President William Ruto acknowledged cheers from their supporters during Kenya Kwanza final rally ahead of August 09, 2022 General Election at Nyayo National Stadium on August 06, 2022. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

The roots of political betrayal in the country can be traced back to independence. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, an ardent freedom fighter, once positioned to lead the nation, turned down an offer by colonial power brokers to form a government while Jomo Kenyatta was in detention vouching for Jomo through a single-minded focus. 

A few years later, the alliance soured and the two could no longer see eye to eye, leading to Jaramogi’s detention by the very government he had sacrificed his own ambition to establish. 

Today, the echoes of this betrayal resound once more as Rigathi Gachagua finds himself ousted as Deputy President barely two years into office and is now battling to clear his name through the courts.  

Only twenty months ago, as a trusted ally of the presidential candidate William Ruto, Gachagua had been pivotal in securing the vote-rich Mount Kenya region, rallying against then-President Uhuru Kenyatta with the clarion call of fighting political dynasties.

Many thought Gachagua had been extreme at going after Uhuru for the sake of his political love affair with Ruto, and it was not long before he ate humble pie lamenting about it when the guns suddenly turned against him.

After their election, the duo teamed up tight attending public and church events together.  

They would occasionally kneel on the pulpit for prayers as bishops laid hands on them.  A government that is compassionate and sympathetic to the tribulations of the lower masses is what we will bring to Kenya, they would say.

Their spouses, Rachel Ruto and Pastor Dorcas Rigathi built a prayerful sisterhood with a closeness of two peas in a pod. Ties that started during the campaign period before the Kenya Kwanza coalition won the August 9 2022 presidential elections. 

After their husbands got office, the two prayerful women cultivated a close relationship, supported each other’s initiatives, and attended national events together.  Their camaraderie inspired many women, mainly through their advocacy for women’s empowerment, protection of the boy-child, education, and family values. 

The same could be said of their husbands, the President and his deputy. They would attend church functions every Sunday together and run their beloved rallies on car rooftops together across the country.

As is usual in Kenya’s politics, as was with Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga, utterances begun to emerge from both that revealed a growing rift. The one man-one shilling-one vote formula of sharing national revenue was among the issues that revealed the two had started reading from separate scripts. Then came the “shareholder” remark which gave out what was happening underneath after the President came out to publicly rebuke such utterances. The remark had emanated from the DP at a Kericho function.

Power pacts

Political tension grew and things hit a fever pitch. Then talk of a planned impeachment emerged. This is what has now ended with the removal of Gachagua and sending his political career into the gutter. 

Yet now, as Kithure Kindiki takes over as the second in command after the fall of Gachagua, the move underscores the country’s soft political underbelly that is driven by intense intrigues, conspiracies and betrayals. 

Political pundits argue that the country’s politics is driven by alliances based on ethnic mobilisation to get the politicians to ascend to power.

Analysts further argue that politics being dynamic, most leaders ascending to political office had their eyes permanently set on the next election rather than on service delivery. And that, they say, is why it becomes easy to betray old allies to accommodate new teams and win the next election.

They argue that the country’s rapidly changing political landscape due to the mounting socio-economic challenges had forced President Ruto and his allies to seek for a new political base ahead of the 2027 election. 

First Lady Rachael Ruto, President William Ruto, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his wife Dorcas during Ruto’s Inauguration as the 5th President of Kenya at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi on September 13, 2022. [File, Standard] 

Veteran politician Koigi Wamwere says political ambitions and competing ethnic and regional interests make it difficult for political leaders in Kenya to maintain friendship and honour pre-election pacts to their allies.

Gachagua’s impeachment is expected to trigger political tremours across his Mt Kenya backyard with the consequential effects of shifting the country’s political tectonic plates ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Ethnic-based alliances, analysts argue, are devoid of any cohesive political ideology or principles but are solely motivated by the ultimate desire to serve selfish interests. 

A cursory look at Kenya’s political history is replete with acts of betrayal amongst allies and broken political power-sharing pacts.

In his book The Politics of Betrayal, former Baharini MP Joe Khamisi explores the leadership betrayals in Kenya, which he believes are responsible for the political, social and economic rot that is pervasive in the country. 

Betrayals of close associates are well exemplified in the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, where Marcus Brutus betrayed Caesar, as well as in the Bible, when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ.

The deadly betrayal of Caesar on March 15, 44 BC by his close allies led by Marcus Brutus changed the course of Roman history.

Shakespeare chose to emphasise the depth of the betrayal in his choice of the line for his historical play. 

The character Julius Caesar says:

“Et tu, Brutus?’, meaning, Even you, Brutus?, highlighting that he did not expect to be betrayed by someone he had forgiven and thought a friend.

Similarly, Gachagua, while addressing the Press on the doorsteps of the Karen Hospital where he had been admitted as the Senate took the vote to impeach him, took a swipe at President William Ruto and lamented:

“I believed a fellow Christian would never betray me or my people. We made a mistake in life and continue to learn. The people of Mt Kenya and I trusted President Ruto, believing he would never betray us.”

When President Ruto picked Gachagua as his running mate, Kenyans thought that the country had been ushered into a new political dawn as the duo appeared to be committed Christians, with their wives being perceived as prayer warriors and intercessors in national issues. Ruto, who many believed had been subjected to untold humiliation at the hands of key State actors during his second term as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s deputy, declared in numerous political rallies and TV interviews that he would never allow his deputy to suffer a similar fate under his watch.

In the run up to the 2022 general elections, Ruto and Gachagua attended church together, each carrying a Bible and would regularly kneel at the altar to be prayed for.

Upon their ascension to office, the pair would attend church services in different counties every Sunday to ostensibly give thanks to God for their election.

It therefore came as a surprise to many political observers and Kenyans in general when the President’s ominous hand was perceived as having driven Gachagua to his political waterloo.

The process of the removal of the DP from his office was preceded by a series of activities and deal-makings amongst sections of UDA leadership and Raila Odinga’s ODM party, which has been in a working relationship with President Ruto.

At independence, founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and his allies engaged in a persistent campaign to sideline Jaramogi from the government, leading to his resignation as the vice president.

Jaramogi had vehemently supported Mzee Kenyatta and even rejected overtures by the colonial government to form a government when Kenyatta was still in detention at Lodwar.

Jaramogi mobilized resources to hire lawyer Dennis Pritt, a Queen’s Counsel, and other lawyers who defended Mzee Kenyatta during the infamous Kapenguria trial.

Before the opposition vanquished KANU from office in the 2002 general election under the Narc revolution, Kibaki teamed up with Raila Odinga in an alliance that was short-lived as power plays and political intrigues took centre stage soon after the team ascended to office.

Similar political machinations were observed when Uhuru and Ruto teamed up to take power following the departure of President Kibaki.

Uhuru sought the support of Raila in what came to be known as a handshake in order to clip Ruto’s political wings ahead of the 2022 transition election.

Uhuru, who had previously publicly committed himself to support Ruto upon the expiry of his term, shifted the goalposts and instead threw his weight behind Raila, whom he described a visionary leader.

Barely two years into office, Kenyans have witnessed another phase of political betrayal as Ruto and his allies pulled all the stops to eject his deputy from office through impeachment. Koigi attributed the culture of political betrayals in the country to leadership “devoid of desirable morals values and who perceive power as a means of serving selfish interests.”

Koigi, who has authored a book on the effects of negative ethnicity in Kenya, says political leaders in the country use their communities as vehicles for political mobilisation in order to assume public office.

He says any leader who assumes office through such means is held captive by his tribal henchmen “who feel that they are obligated to benefit from state resources for their role in supporting their man to get into office.”

“That is why the State is diverted from fundamental issues of service delivery to the people and instead turned into a theatre of political intrigues and conspiracies by the political class which competes to plunder national resources,” Koigi added.  

President William Ruto and his former Deputy Riugathi Gachagua after an event at State House Nairobi. [File, Standard]

Koigi says he witnessed power struggles in the Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki administrations when he served as an MP “ as political elites from various communities with close proximity to power out maneuvered each other in order to put their hands in the cookie jar.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Mwangi Gichuki,  a former MP for Ndaragwa, who argued that leaders in Kenya were motivated by desire “to acquire power and maintain the power.”

He says pre-election pacts and alliances between different leaders were borne out of political convenience in order to acquire power but were not driven by “any political values or principles to enhance services to the voters.”

“Political betrayals are instigated by competition for power and inner disputes amongst the ruling elites over control and access to State largesse,” Gichuki said.

Both Koigi and Gichuki argue that the conspiracy against Gachagua could be attributed to his attempts to create a sphere of influence in Mt Kenya region which Ruto perceived as his political bedrock.

Koigi says by expressing his desire to consolidate Mt Kenya region behind him, Gachagua had fallen into a trap as he was seen as having political ambitions that could thwart President Ruto’s game plan in 2027.

New matrix

“Gachagua failed to realise that he was expected to serve his master’s. That is why he had to go when he appeared to have embarked on a campaign to establish his own political base ahead of 2027 elections,” Koigi said.

On his part, Gichuki says Gachagua had fallen victim to vicious political power games ahead of the 2027 general elections by his persistent campaign to unite Mt Kenya region, which was interpreted by the President’s allies as a grand plan to pull the rug from under his feet.

Gichuki adds that Gachagua had outlived his usefulness in President Ruto’s political camp as the Mt Kenya was slowly disintegrating due to the perceived failure by the Kenya Kwanza administration to fulfill its election pledges. He says the decision by Ruto to bring Raila on board was meant to create a new political power matrix.