Ruto wasted his political capital on little things with no returns

 

President William Ruto is welcomed to UDA headquarters by the party's Secretary-General, Cleophas Malala and Cecily Mbarire the Chairperson. [PCS]

Let’s face it, William Ruto wasted political capital on political trivialities at the very time when so many had sat back to watch a political genius in action. The work of every new president is to heal the wounds ordinarily generated by a hard-fought election. It's why presidents commit to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution just before they are formally handed the sword as commander-in-chief.

The brilliantly and bravely run campaign had made even opponents develop a quiet admiration for Ruto. With 7.1 million votes and a unanimous seal of approval at the Supreme Court, he had the honour of having his mother, mama Sarah, witness his swearing into the most powerful office. This is where Bishop Joshua Selman would say “Such cannot happen to a man unless God’s mercy be with him’’.

The central theme of Ruto’s 2022 campaigns was that the time had come for bold and solid leadership. He tagged at the heartstrings of the many beneficiaries of Kibakinomics who were getting highly disillusioned by the economics of Uhuru’s administration and the aftershocks of Covid-19.

He rallied the ‘fortune at the base of the pyramid’’ with his common-sense rhetoric and so many who did not vote for him were willing to give him the benefit of doubt. If anything, this is certainly a man who had tapped into something larger than himself.

But the campaign win excitement soon turned into belligerent political slugfest when the Opposition hit the streets with the claims that Ruto had not ‘won the election fair and square’’. Some of us surmised that the mobilisation by the opposition was a political red herring for the ‘distribution of spoils’, the state largesse.

This assertion was informed by a crisp understanding that interest is the breast milk of politics and the surprise win by UDA had left so many political interests in limbo. The only way to secure them was to get the president to a political deal.  Since there was so much work to be done in the new administration’s in-tray, we suggested that a quiet direct diplomacy would have gone a long way in calming political temperatures while giving the new president a chance to settle in for the enormous task ahead of healing the soul of the nation and economy.

We hoped that magnanimity in victory would take centre stage and that Ruto would extend olive branch to his competitor Raila Odinga. When he eventually did under the supervision of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, critical political capital had been spent on little things with little to no political returns.

The Cabinet left much to be desired. Every sensible Kenyan pointed out that Ruto was setting himself up. But as the Swahili adage goes, sikio la kufa…

When Kenyans expected bold intelligent actions, what they saw was the anti-thesis of bold intelligent and futuristic decisions. I will explain. After screaming at us about ‘State capture’, Kenya Kwanza came to power and in 18 short months gave us the edible oils and fertilizer scandals. School capitation and the entire education edifice has run as though the official policy in the education sector is “abracadabra”. The schools finished term one by sheer resilience and fluke.

Then came Finance Bill 2024. It’s still laughable how the entire government machinery has hired online mujahedeen to peddle the narrative of civilian coup. While such assertions might not be without basis, it’s an indictment to the political instinct of the administration and the weaknesses in its intelligence infrastructure.

It’s the pain that the Kenyan households have endured for the last one year that made it a duty to reject the mindless, heartless Finance Bill 2024.

While the so called broad-based Cabinet is a mere salve to a broken political system and a festering national wound, we will take it for the ethno-political stability it brings, even as we plot our way and destiny out of this short-termism.

Kidi Mwaga is the convener Inter-Parties Youth Forum. [e-mail]