For at least two years now, a constant feature on the TV evening news has been some key supporter of Deputy President Dr William Ruto speaking with great passion about the pain he feels at seeing how the DP is treated by various dark forces within the government.
Such a supporter would then invariably emphasise that it was only through the support of the DP that President Uhuru Kenyatta rose to the presidency.
This is all true enough. However, it does not take into account Kenya’s political history, which repeatedly demonstrates that in our country, the office of the Deputy Presidency (or the Vice Presidency which preceded it) is a crown of thorns.
Just about every leader who has served in that capacity has had all kinds of humiliations pressed on his head. Not necessarily by the President himself, but mostly by those around him, who see the deputy as a barrier to their ambitions.
Founding President Jomo Kenyatta went through three vice presidents (Jaramogi Odinga, Joseph Murumbi and Daniel Moi) in his 15 years as president.
As for the humiliations that have been piled on his head, he need only read Jaramogi Odinga's autobiography to see that the template for his problems was established many years ago.
President Moi went through four in his 24 years at the top (Mwai Kibaki, Josephat Karanja, George Saitoti and Musalia Mudavadi). Kibaki’s decade in power featured three (Michael Wamalwa, Moody Awori and Kalonzo Musyoka).
None of these vice presidents was spared the routine humiliations by those close to the President.
Judged by this standard, Ruto has actually done quite well, as he is now in his ninth consecutive year as Deputy President.
As for the humiliations that have been piled on his head, he need only read Jaramogi Odinga's autobiography to see that the template for his problems was established many years ago. And I suppose this is the reason why all leading politicians should really try to write some accounts of their time in office.
Jaramogi was one of the few who did so in the 1960s, and so his Not Yet Uhuru remains the key reference text of those early years in the nation’s history.
In this book, Jaramogi notes that fairly early in his tenure as VP: “…I seemed repeatedly to be the victim of manipulation from forces within our country whose tactics, if not planned in conjunction with external, neo-colonial forces, nevertheless managed, with astonishing accuracy, to coincide in intention and effect.”
This was at the height of the Cold War, and at a time he had the trust and support of the Communist Bloc (Russia and China) while his arch-enemy, Tom Mboya, was the massively resourced frontman for the US.
In a scene very reminiscent of some of the humiliations Ruto has suffered in the recent past, as his most prestigious assignments are delegated to others, Jaramogi describes how: “On United Nations Day 1965, I was present at the commemorative meeting when a Minister appeared to represent the President and to take the salute in the presence of myself as Vice-President.”
All this in the end proved too much for the proud and headstrong Jaramogi In 1966. He resigned.
“In my letter of resignation to President Kenyatta I wrote: You have not given any consideration to me as your number 2 in State matters. I have a conscience and this in fact does prick me when I earn public money but with no job to do.
"I consider this a waste of public money and I am worried lest the future generation questions my sincerity, when they would learn that I allowed myself to hold a sinecure post in the midst of poverty and misery in our country. With this realization, I cannot continue to hold this position any longer and I hereby tender my resignation.”
This resignation proved to be a major strategic blunder, as it led to Jaramogi being subjected to what amounted to a form of “internal political exile” and kept out of active politics for the next two decades.
For all the frustrations he may face, Ruto is wise to cling to his office.
