The near chaotic and embarrassing reception of Deputy President William Ruto at the Bomet Green Stadium this week has elicited mixed reactions from across the political divide.
While some supporters of the Deputy President have viewed it as a failure by the county leadership to do good groundwork ahead of the visit, his critics have been quick to make out more conclusions — that while Ruto has been making political forays across the country to popularise his United Democratic Party — he has ignored the political dynamics in his South Rift stronghold.
And, key among the critical discussions are the influence of Chama cha Mashinani as a party and former Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto as a figure in the vote-rich Kipsigis community.
Kipsigis is the dominant community in the South Rift and accounts for over 50 per cent of the Kalenjin tribe.
The community is spread across the Kericho, Bomet, Narok and Nakuru counties.
During the Kanu era, the community was led by prominent leaders such as the late Roads ministers Kipkalya Kones and Franklin Bett, among others.
Fortunes, however, changed following the fall of Kanu in 2002 and the subsequent the win of ‘NO’ brigade during the 2005 constitutional referendum, after which then Prime Minister Raila Odinga named William Ruto as one of the Pentagon members to represent the Rift Valley.
Following the 2007-08 post-election violence and his indictment at the International Criminal Court, DP Ruto catapulted as the Kalenjin kingpin.
His position was further cemented following his publicised resistance against Mau Forest Complex evictions.
Among his foot soldiers were Rutto, perceived to be the towering Kipsigis leader, and the then firm critic of ODM leader Raila Odinga.
The relationship between DP Ruto and Rutto has been frosty since the Jubilee government came to power in 2013 and the latter was elected to chair the council of governors.
In an open show of defiance, Rutto had, on several occasions, accused the Jubilee government and in particular DP Ruto of dictatorial tendencies and using government machinery to trash critics.
So bitter was the fallout that in 2016, the two faced off at a fundraiser at the same venue (Bomet Green stadium) in a duel that has been described by the locals as ‘Mkutano Takwisha’ (the meeting will end) moment.
During the debacle, Rutto had threatened to end the meeting prematurely, if DP Ruto and his handlers could not stop ‘disrespecting’ him.
During the same year, the supremacy battle went a notch higher during the Nyangores ward by election in Bomet, when Rutto openly supported a candidate on the Patriotic Party of Kenya ticket.
The PPK candidate floored the one from DP Ruto’s United Republican Party.
The former governor would then take the battle to Kericho senate by-elections in the same year, where he supported the Kanu candidate and former Buret MP Paul Sang.
In a battle royale that was touted to redefine the popularity of DP Ruto and prospects of Jubilee Alliance during the 2017 elections, the DP personally led the Jubilee campaigns while Kanu party chairman Gideon Moi and Rutto campaigned for their candidate.
Jubilee’s Aaron Cheruiyot won with 109,358 votes, with Kanu’s candidate garnering 56,397 votes in an election that the losers claimed was rigged in favour of Jubilee.
When Jubilee Alliance affiliate parties merged in September 2016 to form Jubilee Party, Rutto jumped ship and founded his own political outfit, which later became an affiliate party of National Super Alliance.
During the 2017 elections, the late Governor Joyce Laboso, vying on the Jubilee ticket unseated Rutto in an election that he claimed he was rigged out.
Until mid-2020, when he had a change of heart, Rutto had relentlessly remained a fierce critic of the DP, spelling doom on his 2022 presidential bid and throwing weight behind the ‘Handshake’ between President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Premier Raila Odinga.
Indeed for a man who had remained a critic for over seven years, many viewed his sudden move to embrace DP Ruto and his ‘hustler’ politics as more of a survival tactic than a matter of principle.
Others, at the local political scene have viewed the entry of Rutto and his CCM party as suspicious and a ploy to rock the ‘Hustler Nation’ boat from within.
But, he has maintained that he is a ‘hustler’ in heart and his CCM party will continue fighting for the downtrodden with its moniker being ‘hustler mashinani’.
The Monday incident has, however, conjured the memories of the frosty relationship of the former foes
Speaking to a local radio station, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro blamed Rutto for hiring goons to disrupt what was otherwise ‘UDA function.
Nyoro further accused Rutto of being an ungrateful beneficiary of leaders who have sacrificed their political positions to support DP Ruto.
He pointed out former Majority leader Aden Duale, Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwa and former Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen as leaders who lost their positions because they supported DP William Ruto 2022 presidential bid.
“What happened in Bomet was unfortunate and regrettable and it was the sole responsibility of one leader Rutto who brought goons to what was otherwise a UDA affair,” Nyoro said.
Nyoro added, “We have toured several regions, including Meru where the sitting governor (Kiraitu Murungi) is affiliated to another party, but not at any one time have we encountered what we witnessed in Bomet.”
The same sentiments were echoed by Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok, who claimed that CCM is a ‘village party’ keen on spoiling and bringing confusion in DP Ruto’s stronghold.
Rutto, who is running for Bomet gubernatorial seat, has, however, distanced himself and his party from the Monday’s fiasco. He maintained that his party is fully behind DP Ruto’s presidential bid and that all other seats were open for competition between CCM and other ‘hustler nation’ parties.
"As a party, we resolved in 2020 to unconditionally support DP William Ruto as our presidential candidate. Any other contrary information is propaganda from our competitors," he said.
He took on the governor to an extent asking his ‘goons’ to stop him from attending the DP’s event at the stadium and from even entering the governor's office.
"I will always attend the DP's functions in this region for as long as he visits and I do not have to seek permission from any because he is our leader. So what Barchok was doing was totally wrong," Rutto added.
He said the governor further erred by not calling all leaders for a meeting to plan for the reception of the DP as it should be and as it happened in other counties.
Rutto, Barchok and CAS John Mosonik are battling it out for the Bomet gubernatorial seat in the coming poll, a race that will reaffirm DP Ruto's strength with his foe-turned-friend.
Political pundits are of the view that the entry of CCM as a possible ‘third force’ may destabilize the UDA party dominance in the vote-rich South Rift and possibly sweep more seats in case the DP’s party nominations.
