Damning reports have emerged on how President Uhuru played the Deputy President of Kenya. Ruto, who is seen as the professor of politics by his allies, seems to have finally given up his quest to fight the constitutional process supported by his boss and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
DP and his allies have been moving across the country, popularizing their agenda dubbed ‘The Hustler Nation.’ unfortunately, they didn’t know that the deep state was also busy strategizing to counter the DP’s rising popularity.
A series of meetings attended by the President’s powerful allies, which Ruto was not privy to, were the beginning of Ruto’s downfall.
The La Mada meeting attended by Mt. Kenya leaders was not even part of the bigger plan to stop Ruto; it was only a strategy to distract Ruto from the crucial meetings. They even let Dennis Itumbi, a blogger and Ruto’s spin master, easily access CCTV footage and audio.
Ruto’s predicament is similar to Frank Underwood in the house of cards; it’s a series based on the deep state’s power games. Frank says that it’s all about location, location, and location to gain power or rise to power. The closer you are to the source, the higher your property value.” Ruto has always positioned himself as the number one supporter of the President, but he lacks one crucial thing that Underwood had, the president ears.
In one of his famous quotes, Frank Underwood said, “Proximity to power deludes some into thinking they wield it.” During the first term, Ruto enjoyed a lot of power to the point that the President did not even question his word. Even in cabinet appointments, the President couldn’t appoint the ministers without involving the Deputy President.
Unlike Ruto, Underwood was trusted by the President, enabling him to play his gimmicks without Uhuru knowing. Ruto destroyed his trust when he popularized his name in the President’s backyard without the President’s approval.
At some point, Ruto said publicly, ‘Mimi si mlevi, ’ loosely translated as “I am not a drunkard,” something that angered the President. Those close to the President claim that Uhuru saw this as a personal attack given that he’s a fan of locally made beer. Since next, the President ordered that Ruto be cut from all state communications and essential activities.
President is said to have called a meeting of his trusted allies to hatch a plan to destroy Ruto without looking like he’s being attacked by the President directly.
The first plan was to make Matiang’i the Deputy President, but that was impossible since the President didn’t have the powers to fire his deputy.
The organizers later decided to transfer all the DP functions to Matiang’i and leave the DP with the title without a portfolio. ‘Deep state’ ordered Dr. Matiang’i to state at any given position that the President had sent him to deliver his promises; this was now becoming clear that the President didn’t need the DP to deliver his promises.
The decision led to an uproar from DP’s allies, who started attacking the interior CS as to why he was performing functions meant to be done by the DP. President Men responded with the same message that the President had chosen to work with those ready to fulfill his big four agendas to make it look legit.
In one of the interviews, Murathe, a powerful ally of the President, stated that the President had decided to let Ruto continue with his early campaigns, a reiterated message by those keen to see Ruto fall. Then corruption cards and removal of allies from powerful positions followed. Uhuru is not new to politics; he was a student of President Moi who knew how to destroy his enemies. Having worked with Ruto in his first term, he has always known the tactics employed by his deputy.
It’s alleged that Ruto receives financial support from those he helped win election tickets through the Jubilee party. So the President was looking to completely suppress Ruto’s financial muscle by making his allies toe the line.
A message was shared to all Jubilee MPs, warning that those who won’t support the party position would be ousted from Parliamentary committees and could face a disciplinary committee. President men tasked top officers drawn from NIS and DCI with preparing files for each MP from the DP’s tanga-tanga wing.
Those who didn’t obey the party’s position were either slapped with corruption cases or were removed from influential positions. Hardliners like Murkomen, who believed that they were untouchables, were dealt a significant blow when they got fired from their senate positions.
Now came the last card that the President had kept to himself since, the BBI process, the President first allowed the DP to appoint at least one secretariat member.
ODM leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru shared the remaining slots. By appointing one member of the secretariat, Ruto thought he was fully part of the BBI process. He didn’t know that his appointee didn’t attend some crucial meetings that decided the future of BBI.
Major (Rtd) John Sei, who Ruto picked, later complained that the document that was launched by the President and former PM at Bomas was not what they had prepared. After realizing he was being played, Ruto started pushing for consensus, something that events had overtaken.
President saw Ruto’s tactic as his last resort to discredit the document that he had worked hard to see come into fruition. So he invited Ruto to a meeting that lasted for five hours; the President promised Ruto that the document would accommodate his proposals and not worry about the Raila. Ruto then told his allies to calm down.
Before the launch of signatures, the committee added the proposals Musalia Mudavadi suggested into the document; Ruto was left guessing and confused whether to support or reject the BBI.
On Wednesday, Ruto met his allies where they came up without suggestions on how Kenyans should be given a chance to vote on issues in the BBI. One of the critical suggestions is voting should be based on topics and referendum to be held alongside 2022 elections, a move trashed by the council of churches and other leaders.
Will Ruto survive the BBI storm? Time will tell.
