How Ruto's loyalty to friends has shaped his leadership

President William Ruto has used the loyalty and friendship yardstick as a key hallmark in his leadership, retaining close allies in his cabinet despite demands by Kenyans that he applies other values like competence and integrity when making appointments.

Having faced great pressure from millions of protesters, the Gen Z revolt, in June, where he caved in and sacked his entire cabinet, Ruto showed that his loyalty to friends could not be tamed by reappointing-long-term friends and key allies, Aden Duale, Kithure Kindiki, Kipchumba Murkomen and Davis Chirchir.

All four politicians have worked with Ruto since he founded the now-defunct United Republican Party (URP) in 2012 after leaving Raila Odinga’s ODM party together with Duale.  The party was later dissolved in 2016 to form the giant Jubilee that has since disintegrated.

Nairobi politician and former Nairobi Town Clerk Philip Kisia has closely followed how loyalty and friendship has impacted on the functioning of government over the last two years that the Kenya Kwanza administration has been in power.

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“Loyalty has benefitted him, largely because these people have worked closely together for many years. They easily believe in his vision and values, and so he does not have to worry about his programs being undermined or sabotaged,” says Kisia.

Loyalty therefore is not a measure of performance, but it gives a leader confidence in getting all the support needed, unlike when someone with a divided attention is appointed. It is not an ingredient for performance, but leaders fear people who are not loyal can bring them down when given the slightest opportunity.

Kisia, however, also argues that most of those who served in Ruto’s last cabinet were not loyal but instead feared him, as was demonstrated by former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof Njunguna Ndung’u after exiting office.

The former CS prepared the current budget, proposing and defending the tax collection policies that generated a lot of debate and anger in the country after President Ruto pushed for more revenue collection by the Kenya Revenue Authority.

He however shocked the country when making his exit remarks, saying, “Higher taxes do not necessarily guarantee high revenue collection,” which was contrary to the position he took over the last two years he was at Treasury.

For a man who was in charge of handling all policies on tax collection, Ndung’u was telling the country that he did not believe in what he was doing and could therefore only have been operating under instructions from the appointing authority.

Kisia thinks that many of the Cabinet secretaries also worked under a lot of fear because they were not given a free hand to operate their dockets, apart from a few like Aisha Jumwa who may have been loyal to the president because of her history with him.

Although loyalty could have served him well, it is argued that appointing close friends, caused him and the country a lot of disservice because the CSs served with a lot of entitlement and arrogance.

“They completely ruined his government because some of them are very close to him. They know him so well. They know his past. They have too much detail on him to the extent that they can expose him if he fires them,” says Kisia.

And so the president has no option but to keep such people close to him although there is no correlation of friendship to performance, more so because he can also not crack the whip and discipline his friends.

It has been argued that were it not for the Gen Z protests, people like Mithika Linturi, the former CS for Agriculture, could be still in office, despite having gone through an impeachment process in parliament over the fake fertiliser scandal.

“He has not disciplined even one minister. If the Gen Zs had not put a lot of pressure on his government, those people would still be there, displaying incompetence and bad governance,” added Kisia.

The president is also on record saying he knows more of what is happening in various ministries than the Cabinet Secretaries and could therefore have cracked the whip to take action against those abetting corruption scandals.

Prof Gitile Naituli of Multi-Media University has also predicted that President Ruto will find it very difficult to convince voters in 2027 if he continues rewarding friends and loyalists in his government.

He argues that politics in the near future will be based only on results and character as the biggest consideration, although close allies are important because they sometimes offer moral and financial support for voter mobilisation.

The political analyst pointed out that Ruto himself proved in the last election that money can be irrelevant through his hustler versus dynasties narrative, which shows that all that one needs is good messaging on uplifting living standards of the people.

“They listened to him and ignored Uhuru Kenyatta and his candidate Raila Odinga despite the huge financial war chest they used during the campaign. It appears he did not learn that what works now is proper governance and good economic performance,” says Naituli.

He however credits Ruto for never letting his friends down although they have not assisted him in changing the economic fortunes, living standards, unemployment, health and education funding that still are big challenges.

And the fact that he had to reach out to Raila Odinga and his ODM party to steady the government after the protests that almost made the country ungovernable is an indication that the friends and loyalists have not helped either.

That means he may have to discard them and get critics or more deserving Kenyans who can tell him the truth and help in delivering tangible results over the next three years when he seeks re-election in 2027.

He has also received a boost from Gen Z, who have given him a template to use instead of relying on friends and loyalists because they have bluntly told him that all they need is good character and morality in politics.

They have called out dishonesty, including among religious leaders, and identified good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability as key themes that should prevail instead of the use of money or tribal realignments in politics.

“The Gen Z had very specific grievances, but President Ruto ignored them and brought back his friends. Issues they raised are still simmering on dinner and breakfast tables, in farms, in matatu's, and other spaces. They will return with a bang in 2027,” cautioned Naituli.

The president has over the years encircled himself with old friends, among them former schoolmate and business partners Silas Simotwo who has been with Ruto throughout his political career, personal aide Farouk Kibet and technocrats like CS Davies Chirchir who is also a longtime ally.

Other close friends, like former CS Charles Keter, who was among the URP founding members, have gone quiet since he left Uhuru’s cabinet where he served in the energy docket.

Former Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim who now serves on the speaker’s panel, says President Ruto values friendship a lot and he rewards the same.

“Even if his friend is not up to the task, he would be willing to literally seat down with him and even take him through the basic things," said the Dadaab MP in an earlier interview.

He is also known for keeping his promises, and he did that to none other than the Prime Cabinet Secretary (PMC) Musalia Mudavadi after he decided to allow his ANC party to work with Ruto’s UDA in the last presidential elections.

 The president promised Mudavadi a handsome reward for joining the hustler movement and indeed not only appointed him PMC but also added him additional responsibility of Foreign Affairs cabinet secretary.

Mudavadi shelved his presidential ambition and decided to support Ruto after abandoning president Uhuru Kenyatta’s team that was supporting Raila as the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate.

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has also been rewarded with a few appointments, especially when a CS for the Ministry of Health was reappointed from his home county of Bungoma, which delivered over 200,000 votes to Kenya Kwanza and President Ruto’s  victory.

After winning elections, Ruto also rewarded loyalists in parliament with powerful committee positions, with the likes of Kimani Ichung’wah taking Leader of Majority, Ndindi Nyoro chairing the Budget Committee.

Despite protests from a section of Kenya Kwanza MPs who said the list did not achieve regional balancing, the president ignored them and instead focused on creating numbers that could pass his agenda in parliament.

The president has also rewarded allies and friends with jobs in parastatals, state offices and other government agencies, including the appointment of ambassadors and High Commissioners.

His supporters argue that what is important is the fact that the men and women given the jobs are qualified or have proper credentials and not if they are friends of loyalists to the president.