Not just to tame Ruto, but to vanquish him politically.
As one who knew Matiang’i very well going back to 2002 when we first met working with a then mutual friend to advise one of my political mentors, Simeon Nyachae in his bid for the presidency, I knew and told anyone who would know Matiang’i did not have what it would have taken to bring down Ruto as those who elevated him thought he could.
Before he was appointed into he Cabinet by Uhuru following the 2013 elections, nobody knew who Matiang’i was; he was certainly no politician or any household name whose appointment to the Cabinet would have been recognised as no big surprise.
No one outside his family and friends may have known Matiang’i, but he knew or was known by the only person who mattered in his appointment, Nyachae.
On becoming a minister, he did okay in the education docket but also demonstrated a quality Uhuru liked and largely explains why he rose so quickly to earn his total confidence enough for then President and his men to conclude he was best suited to take the battle to Ruto.
Given this historical context, however, even with the full support of the state machinery, Matiang’i’s challenge to a seasoned politician like Ruto, who was schooled in the Moi era, was always going to be an uphill battle.
I recall a credible source telling me special preparations were being made to arrest then DP and based on who my source was, I have no doubt that was the case.
The question that would partially remain unanswered for now is why that never happened.
Part of the answer can be found in what we already know: Ruto beat both the system and the combined forces of Uhuru and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to become our President.
The sophistication and cunningness of Ruto's accomplishments are stuff for the history books, but just a whiff of it sheds light on what we have already seen and what lies ahead.
Soon after he was declared as President, and while we were waiting for the outcome of the Supreme Court decision on Raila’s challenge, I had lunch with friends who all were and still are Ruto close allies and supporters. One, who is a deep insider, told me something very interesting and that is, contrary to many people’s expectations or fear, Ruto is not a vengeful person.
He then added in this context that even someone like Matiang’i should not be worried because, even though he was given the task of finishing Ruto, the President would not finish him.
When it was widely reported that police surrounded Matiangi’s home in 2023, I found myself thinking about what my friend told me about Ruto and the lack of vengeance. Fast forward to now, that still holds.
Meanwhile, MPs drawn from the Mt Kenya East region have endorsed Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to act as the region’s kingpin and liaison for the region with the government. It is a curious development, to say the least, because the region already has such a liaison though not kingpin in DP Rigathi Gachagua.
The curiosity, however, disappears when one continues to read the bold writing on the wall: Gachagua has served their purpose and, like Ruto before him, the powers that be have decided it’s time to tame him and, even worse, to politically vanquish him just like Uhuru attempted to do with Ruto when he elevated Matiang’i and put him in charge of the now failed mission.
Kindiki has not been given the super CS position as Matiang’i was; that position is occupied by Musalia Mudavadi who everyone knows is uniquely unqualified to do dirty tricks for anyone.
That task, Gachagua, has now been thrust on Kindiki. The question is, does Kindiki have what it takes to topple Gachagua? In the short term, yes, but not in the long term.
