Ruto crafts 2022 strategy to woo Uhuru, Raila strongholds

Deputy President William Ruto is crafting a 2022 strategy to appeal to the support bases of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Part of the plan, which Ruto has started to roll out, casts the presidential contest as a battle between the haves and the have-nots, between the hustlers and the dynasties.

The DP projects himself as the voice and leader of the poor majority, reaching out directly to the people after being cast out by President Kenyatta who epitomises dynastic power.

Ruto and his think tanks believe he can garner substantial votes in Central, Lower Eastern, Western, Coast and North Eastern, propelling him to power in 2022.

The DP, who has been ejected from the centre of power, has been dishing out millions to small businesses to consolidate his appeal to the ‘hustler nation’ and raise his profile. He is fond of saying he started out as a hustler.

Insiders say the DP’s strategists have combed through economic surveys by the National Bureau of Statics and he wants to leverage the findings to address the people’s aspirations and complaints.

For instance, the reports have identified Mount Kenya, Nairobi, Nyanza and Rift Valley as having a huge number of entrepreneurs.

They are believed to have succeeded without necessarily having the advantage of family background and wealth, yet they continue to face many challenges. Ruto hopes to capitalise on their discontent.

For most of last year, for example, businessmen’s goods worth billions of shillings were confiscated by the government in the anti-counterfeit crackdown.

Ruto’s allies also say some businesses rivalling those perceived to be owned by the ‘dynasties’ and their friends were targeted by state agencies to ground them.

Belgut MP Nelson Koech, who is part of the team working closely with the DP, told the Star, “The hustler nation movement has been fashioned around a state of mind that transcends tribal enclaves and encompasses the entrepreneurial state of mind.”

Ruto has donated shoe shining stands, laundry machines, salon equipment, sewing machines, carpenter’s tools, welding equipment and water tanks, among many other items. Making these donations to working people and those who are out of work has dominated his calendar of late.

He is also meeting church leaders whom he hopes will be his ambassadors when the time comes.

Ruto’s think tanks believe his strategy of reaching out directly to the people, including splurging his resources, will transcend perennial ethnic voting.

Raila’s allies have dismissed Ruto’s strategy, however, saying it will not help to sway any votes in the DP’s favour.

Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi described the strategy as “a strange ideology that has no place in Kenyan politics”.

He took a swipe at the DP, saying while Raila was pushing for reforms, it was Ruto who stood and voted with the dynasties that he now claims to despise.

“Those propagating such narratives are naïve. Kenyans will vote for leaders who have a track record in matters development and are defenders of democracy.

“We do not know the true hustlers in this country. The political landscape in Kenya is too complex to look at it through the prism of hustlers versus dynasties,” he told the Star on the phone.

Uriri MP Mark Nyamita said the March 9, 2018, handshake between President Kenyatta and Raila provided a platform where leaders from all corners of the country can form a coalition without looking at tribes and asking who is wealthy or not.

He said as far as he is concerned, Ruto does not fall into the category of hustlers. He said the 2022 race should be about leaders who will respect the rule of law and ensure development is distributed equally across the country.

Ruto has apparently bottomless pockets and Raila has often questioned his source of wealth.

“Of all the possible presidential candidates for 2022, none of them is a hustler. The big question we should be asking ourselves as Kenyans is who will defend the hustler?” Nyamita said.

He added, “Who has the record of defending the public against oppression and dictatorship? The answer is very clear - Ruto has not and he will not.”

But according to MP Koech, Ruto will be able “to appeal to the multitudes from across the country and in the diaspora who associate and connect with the hustler mentality”.

“The hustler mentality refers to a person who is a go-getter, believes in themselves, embodies the values of hard work, discipline, grit and tenacity,” he told the Star on the phone. 

“Scanning Kenya’s landscape, DP Ruto will woo millions of potential supporters who have walked and lived the life of a hustler. They have defied the odds and menacing challenges to emerge on the other side of the aisle.”

President Kenyatta and Raila have dismissed the dynasty-versus-hustler narrative advanced by Ruto, saying leadership is about service to the people.

“[Former President Daniel] Moi rose from a humble background to become president. He came from poverty, just like Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. Nobody can talk about a dynasty when it comes to these three families,” Raila said during Moi’s funeral in Kabarak on February 11.

ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, whose father Moses Mudavadi was a Cabinet minister, is seen as another face of the dynasties.

While it is not yet clear whom President Kenyatta will endorse to succeed him, his camp is already dominated by influential figures such as Raila, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, among others, all angling for his favour.

ANC boss Mudavadi has teamed up with Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula, while Ruto has chosen young politicians as the face of his campaign.

Former Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama said, “The hustler versus the dynasties political battle in 2022 will offer Kenyans an opportunity to break out of ethnic mobilisation that has more often come with the price of tribal violence.

“We thank God already the dynasties have regrouped in one corner and this has given us, the hustler nation, an opportunity to plan for 2022. It will be a defining opportunity for us as a nation,” he said.

Muthama called the 2022 contest “a race between the common wananchi and the alliance of the few wealthy families who have dominated and monopolised political competition at the expense of the majority of Kenyans”.

The wealthy businessman is playing a key role in marshalling the ‘hustler battalion’.

Muthama said the same dynasties are planning to use the awaited Building Bridges Initiative report to perpetuate their power beyond 2022 by amending the 2010 Constitution.

The 2022 contest will end the culture that only the wealthy and powerful can contest the presidency, he said.

If the hustler movement produces a president in 2022, “then henceforth even mama mboga can run and win the top seat without having to worry of huge money to run for office.

“Just as popular culture has morphed into colossal movements in other jurisdictions, the hustler nation will be a way of life, a culture, lifestyle and a defining moment that will emancipate the majority people from the yoke of the few,” Muthama said.

“The movement will be about the people who are patriots with undying devotion to the country, upwardly mobile people who chase their revered dreams and a free society that is devoid of the patronage and shackles of personalities,” he added.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwah dismissed the belief that ‘the system’ will decide the winner in 2022, saying were it true, Uhuru and Mudavadi would have won the 2002 and 2013 polls, respectively.

(Edited by V. Graham)