Besieged Ruto now eager for alliances with leaders he maligned

Assuredness that had come to define Ruto was lost, to be replaced by eagerness to please as he tried to engage the youth on social media where they toyed with him. Those futile engagements on X must have taught him something; that he is not invincible and he needs propping to stay in power. 

The youth protests alarmed the political class, which suddenly realised that a youth uprising fuelled by the need to end corruption, and perhaps driven by socialist ideals, was a threat to them personally and their property, which Pierre Proudhon once described as theft. They needed to regroup to protect their wealth. 

Somehow, Raila, hitherto opposition leader, joined government having also been inveigled by Ruto to contest for the AUC chairmanship. That decision destroyed a decades-long reputation Raila had painstakingly built as a people's defender. Today, many see him as a betrayer to the youth for personal gain. Prayer for him to fail in his AUC quest stems from this. 

With Raila in his corner, Ruto recovered his aplomb and felt secure enough to test the loyalty of the 'murima' region by unceremoniously ejecting his deputy, a true son of the mountain. He won and lost simultaneously because voters in this region have been drifting away from him. It doesn't help matters that the Ruto-Gachagua duo never lost an opportunity to insult Uhuru and his mother. Their perceptions were corrupted by power, and it never occurred to them they would both need Uhuru one day. 

Through nature's cunning, Ruto lost the mountain after casting Gachagua adrift, and it is increasingly getting hostile towards him. This threatens his 2027 re-election bid. It is the reason he swallowed his pride to seek out a man he publicly ridiculed because he belatedly realises he needs Uhuru to mend fences with the mountain. A remorseful Gachagua has on several occasions apologised to Uhuru and his mother for insulting them. 

Having met Uhuru, and should he give some of Uhuru's loyalists Cabinet positions, Ruto will no doubt tell Kenyans his desire is to bring the country together by creating a broad-based government. But, one wonders, where are the hustlers, people living with disabilities and youth in Ruto’s broad-based government, or were they just a means to an end and no longer matter? 

An Uhuru, Raila and Ruto fusion is dangerous for this country. It has the potential to kill democracy, dissent, freedom of expression, increase monopolistic practices and make Kenya an autocratic state with two layers of society: The aristocracy and serfs.