{UAH} Ocen/Pojim/WBK: Ruto Is No Longer Cock Of The Walk

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/02/25/kra-seizes-16-containers-of-sh28-million-contraband-sugar-at-kilindini_c1302041

Ruto Is No Longer Cock Of The Walk

 

Deputy President William Ruto spewed sweat copiously on a day he was supposed to be riding easy in the South Rift.

 

It was painful seeing the 'King of the Rift' suffocating in the citadel.

 

A king is not supposed to sweat in front of his subjects. It degrades royalty, while betraying falling confidence of His Majesty.

 

The Kericho Senate by-election was not meant to be a struggle for space on the home turf.

 

It was expected to be a homecoming party to celebrate the appointment of former Senator Charles Keter as Energy Cabinet Secretary.

 

The new turn is a reality check for Keter's proposed successor Aaron Cheruiyot, and the former Senator's benefactor – Ruto. This is not what brokers anticipated.

 

Public anger is palpable. The dressing down for the king is passionate. It is the kind of chiding you would give to an offending child, hoping the character of the young one is not beyond repair.

 

"We love you, Mr Deputy President, but the bridges you have built are destroying you. Let these MPs not lie to you that we are okay, we are not.

 

We have been promised a lot of things and we cannot see them," an elder told the Deputy President in Kericho last week.

 

Keter is the Kipsigis link to the Executive. Senior government appointments have gone to the CS's relatives, leading to claims of favouritism.

 

Chairman of Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Ken Sigilai, East African Community PS Betty Maina and Industrialisation PS Julius Korir are Keter's relatives.

 

The DP has apologised for the skew, but he says he did not know he was rewarding Keter's kin.

 

The unfulfilled promises of roads and better grain prices have made Ruto "yule jamaa wa tumetenga". The tyranny of promises is undermining public confidence in the Jubilee government in general, and Ruto in particular.

 

The king's wish is no longer the command to his subjects.

 

The Kericho Senate by-election candidate's initial confidence in a youthful revolution is dented. It's not easy asking for forgiveness, and at the same time seeking votes for Keter's relative to replace the former senator.

 

Perhaps the DP did not know Cheruiyot is Keter's nephew. Now he knows the hurt of soft issues. He may have to use a softer strategy – possibly money, or rigging, to win this one.

 

But it is not the mild heat in the cool tea land that makes Ruto sweat.

There is a jolt to his acute presidential ambition. Someone has lit a fire below his seat. He has been jolted out of the comfort zone.

 

The assumption among Ruto's strategists was the March 7 by-election would rubber-stamp Ruto's sovereignty in the citadel.

 

The 2017 presidential election is supposed to be a done deal, with the 'tyranny of numbers' holding for the Ruto-Uhuru Kenyatta's shared presidency.

 

The challenge is supposed to be the 2022 general election, when Ruto expects Uhuru's unconditional backing.

 

With Uhuru's promised support, and vote pudding from ODM strongholds – Western, Coast, and Nyanza – Ruto expects to be the fifth President. This is a power wish.

 

The merger of Jubilee parties under the Jubilee Party of Kenya has further muddied the waters in the Rift.

 

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto is seeking to fill the vacuum created by the proposed death of URP – marketed as a Kalenjin party.

 

The pending death of URP has also invigorated Kanu. Kanu leader, Gideon Moi, who is also the Baringo Senator, has revamped his ambition as the alternative centre of power among the Kalenjin.

 

It is not whether Moi's son is circumcised: the self-declared hustler has to confront the democracy of competing ambitions.

 

If Ruto falls from the hallowed heights, it would be because of hubris, poor judgement, tyranny of unfulfilled promises, and his fixation with "them in the opposition" and "us in power", "us who are circumcised", and "them who are uncut".

 

But Ruto is not taking responsibility for the heat: he supposes former President Moi and his son Gideon are sucking their pint of blood from this son of a peasant.

 

Ruto says Moi's "spoilt son" is ruining the show for him – a poor one from a peasant family.

 

There is political heat suffocating DP Ruto, known for hubris and display of grandeur.

 

Three years of a complacent perch on the second deck from State House has made all the difference.

 

Where Ruto once waxed proud as the only cock in the Kalenjin homestead, he is being told the ground is shifting.

 

This ground may swallow Peasant Ruto. He knows the second royal family is plotting a second generation rebound.