Did Ruto waste good crisis by firing then rehiring foot soldiers?

President William Ruto during a press briefing where he nominated new Cabinet Secretaries and Attorney General at State House, Nairobi. He is flagged by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. [PCS]

When young people took to the streets in unprecedented numbers on Tuesday, June 25, to reject the Finance Bill 2024, President William Ruto’s political career seemed, to all intents and purposes, at an end.

The mobilisation, driven by Generation Z and other youth, forced Ruto to reconsider several government policies, including sacking his entire Cabinet and the Attorney General.

With the rejection of the Bill and the sacking of the Cabinet, Ruto appeared to have listened to and yielded to the demands of the youth.

As said by Winston Churchill, never waste a good crisis, many expected Ruto to seize the moment and create a new-look Cabinet of professionals, a dream team that would transform his administration and restore the hope of many Kenyans.

Senior Counsel and constitutional lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi was among the people who saw the political crisis as a golden opportunity for Ruto to redeem the Kenya Kwanza government.

Ahmednasir said the President had a chance to appoint a new Cabinet of technocrats who can come up with solutions to the country’s problems.

A day before the announcement of 11 Cabinet nominees, Religious leaders under the Ufungamano-Joint Forum of Religious Organizations (U-JFRO) called on Ruto to appoint a Cabinet of no more than 16 Cabinet Secretaries.

They recommended the appointment of two Cabinet Secretaries per region and one Principal Secretary per ministry.

Mythical phoenix

But when he named part of his new team on Friday, many were disappointed.

Political pundits say that by recycling some of the people that he had sacked, Ruto lost an opportunity to reinvent himself.

Former MP for Molo Njenga Mungai said Kenyans had expected the president, who had been boxed into a corner by the protesting youths, to use the current political crises to reform his administration “and rise again like the mythical phoenix from its ashes.”

He said Kenyans had expected the President to clean up his administration and appoint people who would inspire confidence in the people to reduce mounting political tensions, which would inevitably negatively impact the country’s political stability and economic growth.

The one-time radical lawmaker said the country has weathered many storms in the past after leaders and Kenyans softened their stands and agreed to have an honest conversation about the country’s state and chart the way forward.

“The resilience to talk to each other has long held this country, and leaders and other players should continue pursuing this path. They must reduce mistrust and self-interests,” said Mungai, adding that the country is walking a tight political rope due to the belligerent stands taken by the government, the youth, and sections of the opposition.

“We found ourselves in a similar situation in 1992 during the clamour for multi-partyism and in the 1997 general elections when hardliners in the government and the opposition shut the door to any form of dialogue. However, sober-minded leaders from both sides initiated a dialogue that made us move forward as a country,” Mungai recalled.

He warned that the country risked “plunging into a bigger political crisis as in 2007/2008 when leaders hardened their positions and declined to talk to each other.”

“We found ourselves in a situation where the international community brought in mediators led by Kofi Anan to enable us to talk to each other and find solutions to the problems facing us,” Mungai said.

Nakuru-based political analyst Andrew Nyabuto said that by re-appointing the sacked cabinet secretaries, the President had squandered the opportunity to restore Kenyans’ confidence in his administration and his capacity to steer the country out of the current crises.

“The protests by the Gen Zs marked a major watershed in the country’s political journey as they forced the President to sack the Cabinet, which they perceived as corrupt and inept.

It is, therefore, a slap in their face to re-appoint the same persons, and this does not augur well for his administration as his decision will elicit further protests,” Nyabuto said.

He said Ruto was behaving like the proverbial ostrich that buries its head in the sand in the face of an impending attack from a lion.

“This approach by the President undermines the principle of good governance and further destroys the people’s faith in his administration,” Nyabuto said.

Mungai and Nyabuto said the hard-line positions taken by a section of the opposition and the youth, and the President’s failure to demonstrate goodwill in appointing the Cabinet Secretaries, would undermine efforts to rebuild the economy.

They added that engaging in dialogue does not necessarily mean leaders should join the government but should assist in identifying policy and legislative measures that must be implemented to move the country forward.

Mungai is calling for broad-based dialogue that brings together representatives from key sectors of society, including political leadership, civil society, faith-based groups and the business community.

“I support the position taken by ODM leader Raila Odinga on the need for dialogue,” Mungai said.

Human and civil rights activist Laban Omunsundi says following widespread youth protests, it is important for the country to audit itself and find solutions to issues raised by the protesters “as it is clear we have been sitting on a time bomb.”

Omusundi calls on different stakeholders to swallow their pride and engage each other because “if we fail to do so, there will be an accumulation of anger which will explode and consume us as a nation.”

Meaningful reforms

Bishop Abraham Gitu of the Apostolic Faith Church says the government’s failure to implement the recommendation of the previous dialogue between opposition MPs and Kenya Kwanza MPs held at Bomas has created bad blood among leaders.

“That’s why some opposition leaders are apprehensive about engaging in dialogue with the government as recommendations from previous talks have been trashed,” the Bishop said.

Bishop Gitu says the Gen Zs helped bring to the public’s attention issues that have remained unresolved in the country for many years.

“The country is now at a crossroads, and committed leadership is required to effectively address all the issues raised to enable us to move forward, “Bishop Gitu adds.

Former Nakuru Town MP David Manyara says the Kenya Kwanza administration had demonstrated that it was not committed to meaningful reforms and that engaging in any dialogue would be a waste of time.

“You cannot engage in a dialogue with a person who is arrogant and unwilling to play by the rules. The NADCO report is still gathering dust in President Ruto’s desk, and I wonder what other issues would be discussed in any dialogue,”  Manyara says.