WHY RUTO WILL NEVER BE KENYA'S PRESIDENT

William Samoei Ruto is a force of nature…. almost literally. The Deputy President is quietly framing himself as perhaps the most streetwise, powerful, shrewd and hardnosed politician in independent Kenyan politics. His brand of politics is fresh, clever and ruthlessly effective. But Ruto is not just about politics. He is framing himself as the embodiment of class struggle, a hustler and a hero who has conquered the International Criminal Court, and a man who rose against all odds to become one of the richest men in the land. In short he wants to be seen as a colossus, a saviour, a man fighting for a course. He is adored by a legion of followers who will squash anything in his way at the snap of his 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 mobilising voters, he’s in a league of his own. This man single-handedly made Uhuru Kenyatta Kenya's fourth 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 is only one step away. 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 of over 50 million people. Kenyan politics is still deeply tribal. We are talking millions of votes scattered around several tribal blocks, each with a powerful so-called tribal chief. It is not enought to be loved by the people, you have to go through these so-called "tribal cheifs" to get the approval of the people. Unfortunately for Ruto none of these tribal chief likes him very 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 Isaac Rutto are evidently drifting towards NASA. This provides a formidable challenge to Ruto's presidential ambitions. He not only has to galvanize his Kalenjin backyard behind him, he has to appease the other tribal chiefs to support him. 

 

Facing Mount Kenya 

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. The argument that Ruto is trying to sell that he supported Uhuru for ten years and now the Kikuyu people must support him is turning out to be a hard sell in Mount Kenya. The mount Kenya region has declared unanimously that they owe no one nothing. That is, Ruto has no advantage. Mount Kenya has plainly told  Ruto that he 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 outcompete 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” adage that has become prophetically accurate in Kenyan politics. 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 stuff. The king maker never becomes the King. In Kenya it all started with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga refusing to form the first independent government unless and until Kenyatta is releaswed from prison. It is the greatest off all follies that man has ever committed on the face of the earth. Kenyatta would be released from prison and become Kenya's founding president. They would soon fall out and Oginga Odinga would not only be sacked from the cabinet but also be detained without trail. Raila Odinga repeated his father's folly in 2002 when he famously declared Kibaki "tosha" with the hope that Kibaki would keep his end of the bargain by making him an executive prime minister. He later learned the hard way that certain people cannot just be trusted. Kalonzo did the same thing in 2008 when he joined the Kibaki administration after the disputed elections of 2007. His hope was that Kibaki would endorse him upon his mandatory retirement in 2012. Well, we all know who Kibaki endorsed. The common denominator is that all these scenarios is that the King makers were all betrayed. All these names never came close to becoming the president themselves when the time came for mount Kenya to repay them for their support. William Ruto thinks that this trend will stop with him. I simply don't see it happening. 

 

Last and equally least, Ruto is not just good-looking enough. I mean, he doesn’t have the face for the job. Most Kenyan presidents, former and current, have been people with looks and charisma – people who evoke a sense of admiration, adoration and respect 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 arena. He has work to do on his accent too. Think of Uhuru Kenyatta's speeches: his command of the language was admirable and the same cannot be said of William. 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. Make of that what you will.

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