From allies to adversaries: UhuRuto's betrayal politics

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto during a past rally.  [File, Standard]

Machiavelli’s The Prince - a world famous book, has been a subject of protracted political controversy among political scientists and philosophers. 

Some consider it a straightforward revelation of political reality, while others view it as a manual teaching dishonest politicians and would-be tyrants how to seize and maintain power through crooked means.

American author Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power is to a larger extent an extension of some of the guiding pointers drafted by Machiavelli which also offers unique insights into the nature of power- that it is dark and fluid and so those who play it can only win if they are ready to play it that way.

Kenya’s fourth President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then deputy William Ruto entered into a political alliance in the run-up to the 2013 elections.

The bromance brought together the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities that had been in the fore-front of an earlier political conflict going at each others throats in early 2008 causing one of the country’s most turbulent post-election season.

The violence broke out following a protracted election dispute between President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, his primary challenger during the December 2007 presidential election.

Similar fears

Both Uhuru and Ruto were indicted in 2012 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague for allegedly masterminding and bankrolling the violence.

Pundits have observed that the dangling noose of ICC could have been the real push that brought Uhuru and Ruto together- they shared similar fears despite belonging to opposing sides even during the case.

The two chose a biblical message of Jubilee to be the theme of their messaging and indeed the name of their coalition. Jubilee, according to the good book was the year of forgiving debtors and releasing of the slaves.

Upon their ascendancy to power in April 2013, the duo treated Kenyans to a public display of never -seen -before bromance amongst the country’s top leadership.

They went to church together, and even sang from the same hymn books.

They wore matching snow-white shirts and candy-red neckties, dark blue trousers and would walk to the presidential lectern at the same time- sometimes using one lectern.

When they addressed the media at State House, they took turns reading the speech while smiling.

Uhuru was the leader of TNA political party, which had joined Ruto’s URP to form the Jubilee Coalition.

The two parties, which agreed to share power and appointments in government on a 50-50 basis, merged in the 2016 in preparation for 2017 elections to form the Jubilee Party, with Uhuru as the party leader and Ruto as his deputy.

In a rare show of confidence and trust in his deputy, President Kenyatta once appointed Ruto as acting president as he headed to The Hague to answer charges that faced him.

Signs of an emerging rift came in the form of complaints raised against the administration. The government started to be rocked by allegations of budgeted corruption in the undertaking of numerous mega infrastructure projects, including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

There was also the project to expand the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and procure specialised health equipment that was distributed to various hospitals across the country.

Ruto’s allies perceived President Uhuru’s fight against corruption as politically instigated and biased against their side of the Jubilee party divide. 

In his 2015 State of the Nation address to a joint session of the National Assembly and the Senate, Uhuru decried increasing incidents of corruption among senior government officials in his administration.

The president tabled a document containing the names of 175 government officials who the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) was investigating for alleged involvement in corruption. Some of the individuals listed were Ruto’s close allies in cabinet including; Felix Koskei then Agriculture CS, Davis Chirchir Energy CS. They were forced to step aside to allow investigations.

That can not be said to be the conclusive answer to the questions as to when the two men parted ways. Despite the said anti-graft 2015 clean up, the relations continued through to the 2017 election.

Speculation has been rife amongst political analysts about the fundamental cause of the  wedge between the two former political soul-mates, turning them into bitter foes.

Looking back, pundits observe that all along only interests have converged the two; while Ruto had backed Uhuru’s presidential bid in 2002, the duo went their separate ways in the 2007 elections as Uhuru shelved his presidential ambition and backed his tribesman, Kibaki. Kibaki was then defending his seat, having trounced Uhuru during the 2002 transition election.

Ruto on his part had moved out of Kanu in the heat of the 2005 referendum ending up within the famous pentagon that was set up by Raila Odinga after formation of ODM in the days leading up to the 2007 polls. 

Rocky relationship

Pundits have argued that the two had been cut from different political cloths and would part ways anyway -perhaps based on interests. That was to happen after Uhuru made a surprise converging of interests with Odinga, his then rival during the 2017 elections in what has come to be known as handshake.

That sudden and quick event was the beginning of a rocky relationship within the holy Jubilee political marriage.

The showdown that led to a further split of the fragile alliance was the July 2019 arrest of the then-Treasury CS Henry Rotich on allegations of misappropriation of funds for building two dams in Elgeyo Marakwet at a cost of Sh21 billion.

Ruto took the bull by the horns when he declared that the arrest was politically instigated, a witch hunt, as no money had been lost in the funding of Arror and Kimwarer dams.

Whereas in an earlier political message to an Eldoret rally Uhuru had pledged to support his deputy to take the house on the hill after him “wasubiri yangu kumi ya Ruto kumi”  Kenyans were taken aback when he endorsed Raila in the lead up to the 2022 presidential elections.

Raila had been Uhuru’s bitter presidential rival in two previous elections.

Uhuru’s political actions, from the time he shelved his presidential ambitions while he was Chairman of Kanu to support Kibaki in 2007 to his fallout with Ruto. And abandoning Ruto in favour of Raila, give credence to the popular adage that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics -only permanent interests.

Uhuru’s political actions further highlight the intrigues and machinations that underpin the country’s politics, which are the bane of political betrayals and dishonesty.

Former nominated Senator Harold Kipchumba says political betrayals in the country’s political landscape were driven by intense competition for political power, which provides the base for accumulating wealth and financial resources.

“The political betrayals are driven by selfish interests amongst political players who, in many instances, mobilise their communities to engage in political pacts to enable them to have bargaining power in distributing government resources,” Kipchumba says.

The political separations are also influenced by political orientations between those in power pacts.

Kipchumba says that the ICC phenomenon was the key driver that brought Uhuru and Ruto together.

“When the duo was acquitted of the charges, each started pulling in the opposite direction as they sought to satisfy their agenda and those of their hang-about who mainly bankrolled their campaign,” he says.

Former Mukurweini MP, Kabando wa Kabando, on his part, argues that political betrayals in the country were a “product of clash of interests between leaders who ascend to power with the intention of benefitting from public coffers.”

A culture of honesty and integrity has been lacking in the conduct of public affairs in the country, as the majority of those assuming state offices were interested in serving their selfish ends, adds Kabando.

“That is why the country is replete from numerous political betrayals right from the time we attained independence as leaders are not guided by any principles and desirable values, but greed for wealth and power,” he adds.

Veteran politician Njenga Mungai, in his analysis of political betrayals, says majority of leaders seeking political office perceived them as a “source of wealth and power.”

“Soon after independence, we established a culture where any person seeking to ascend to a political office must have money to bribe their way, and also mobilise their ethnic communities  to support their cause,” he says.

Mungai, chairperson of the Jubilee Party’s Council of Elders, adds that “political betrayals will continue to define our politics for years to come as most leaders are led by greed for power, wealth, and power.”