By @tweeten2013
William Samoei Ruto is a force of nature…. almost literally.
The Deputy President is quietly framing himself as perhaps the most powerful
and hardnosed politician in independent Kenya. His brand of politics is fresh,
clever and ruthlessly effective. But Ruto is not just about politics. He is the
embodiment of class struggle, a hustler and a hero who has conquered the International
Criminal Court. In short he is a god, adored by a legion of followers who will
squash anything in his way at the snap of a finger. William Ruto is poised to make it big. I mean
real big. He is vocal, funny, rich, and furiously determined. When it comes to
garnering voters, he’s in a league of his own. This man single-handedly made
Uhuru Kenyatta president. Now he wants to make himself one. Who can stop him?
Who? I know what you’re thinking. “Ruto is the Deputy
President. He has only one forward step to make. It couldn’t be easier”. Well,
the world doesn’t really work that way. It’s not a fairy tale we are talking
about here. We are talking about the will of an entire nation. Kenyan politics
is still deeply tribal. We are talking millions of votes scattered around
several tribal blocks that have powerful so-called tribal chiefs. Unfortunately
for Ruto none of these tribal chief likes him so much. We are talking Musalia
Mudavadi, Ali Hassan Joho, Kalonzo Musyoka, Raila Odinga, Harun Mwau, Daniel
Moi and Simeon Nyachae to name but a few. To make matters worse, Ruto has
trouble in his own backyard. The likes of Nick Salat, Gedion Moi and Rutto are
evidently drifting towards NASA.
The second reason is: Ruto banks on the Central Kenya Block
of voters who are unscrupulously unpredictable. Already we are hearing the
likes of Munya warning Ruto that he’ll have to ‘convince’ the Gikuyu nation of
his suitability for the presidency. He’ll have to campaign in the region just
like everyone else. That is, Ruto has no advantage. What he was trying to tell
Ruto is that Ruto is not and will not be their de facto presidential candidate.
He will have to fight it out with the likes of Peter Keneth, Martha Karua and
the likes. That’s like asking Najib Balala to compete Raila Odinga in Luoland.
There is only one winner.
Third Reason? He’ll inherit the failures of the Jubilee
administration. Well, all regimes have their failures and so does the Jubilee
Regime. Already there’s talk of Jubilee being the most corrupt administration
in Kenyan history. This is a record they surely would not want to hold. But
they do. And coming from Githongo whose word many Kenyans highly regard, it
could be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. But the failures of
Jubilee don’t stop there. As we speak,
many innocent Kenyan soldiers are dying in Somalia every day, the
economy isn’t doing so great and the most crucial sectors in Health and
Education are crippled with never ending industrial action, one after another.
Many companies are closing shop in Kenya and the unemployment rates are
climbing. People are dying of drought and famine yet millions if not billions
of shillings was put aside for that very purpose. With these facts fresh in
people’s mind, how will Ruto claim to able to lead the nation?
The forth reason is “the king maker hardly ever becomes the
king himself”. It goes without saying that Ruto single-handedly made Uhuru
Kenyatta the forth President of Kenya. Without his backing Kenyatta is nothing.
But history is full of this kind of narrative. The king maker never becomes the
King. In Kenya it all started with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who refused to form the first independent
government if Kenyatta was still in prison. Raila Odinga repeated the folly in
2002. Kalonzo did the same in 2008 when he joined the Kibaki administration
after the disputed elections of 2007. The common denominator is that all these
names never came close to becoming the president themselves ever since.
Last and equally
least, Ruto is not just good-looking enough. I mean, he doesn’t have the face.
Most Kenyan presidents, former and current, have been people with looks and
charisma – people who evoke a sense of admiration and adoration in the
populace. Ruto particularly doesn’t fit that mould. He has an ugly squint,
stout frame and a not-so-gorgeous smile. I don’t think Ruto has the face
that most Kenyan’s wish to represent them in the international scene. And
there’s this interesting fact: majority of the most successful leaders in the
world have been handsome men. King David of Israel, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton
and George Bush of USA, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Nelson Mandela… to name but
very few. On the flip side, most of the worst dictators in world politics have
been ugly looking people: Idi Amin of Uganda, Sadam Hussein, Adolf Hitler, and
Robert Mugabe.Disclaimer
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