This was by all accounts a one-sided marriage of convenience. The union is also the byproduct of a constitution that ensures that the Deputy President will always be a thorn in the flesh for whoever the President is.
When the drafters of the constitution deeply entrenched the position of DP and made so powerful, they created a monster who could eat the President alive.
That’s exactly what Ruto figuratively did in not only cunningly thwarting every move to render him impotent as DP, but also cleverly using the position to propel him to the presidency where he now sits constantly looking behind his shoulders to see what his deputy is up to.
He certainly doesn’t want Gachagua to come even remotely close to where he (Ruto) was with his former boss retired President Uhuru Kenyatta. More precisely, Ruto would not want Gachagua to use his position to execute his own succession plan without Ruto.
What is intriguing and even fascinating to watch, is the talk of potential fallout between Ruto and Gachague has started way earlier compared to what happened between Ruto and Uhuru. In the latter case, the young politicians who branded themselves as the “digital duo” projected and publicly displayed a joining at the hips we had never seen between any president and his deputy.
The digital duo even went as far as matching their attires, complete with matching white shirts and red ties which used to annoy the opposition as it was deemed to be some kind of taunting. It wasn’t but that’s how many in the opposition saw it, which was twice as biting because they maintained the two were not elected but in office courtesy of the grandfathers of vifaranga vya komputa—remember those days?
But those complaints and crying about stolen elections notwithstanding, Uhuru and Ruto went on to have a honeymoon that lasted at least through the end of their first term. It was the proverbial strange bedfellows having a blast that no one expected.
No one expected them to win the presidency, let alone have this merry honeymoon afterward—but there they were, and no one could stop them. Not even retired Supreme Court Chief Justice and fellow justices who jettisoned Raila and AfriCog’s petitions challenging the election outcome.
Fast forward to now, it’s been barely one year into the Ruto/Gachagua presidency and there’s already talk of a looming fallout between the two.
The irony is to hear Gachagua talking about Ruto; there is no way one cannot be convinced that there is no such a fallout in the offing or even possible, given how strong Gachagua has been in supporting and defending Ruto.
However, there are telltale signs at least all is not well at the palace. A good example of that is Ruto’s speech in Migori. That was a historic speech because when it’s all said and done, it will mark the beginning of not just the falling out between Ruto and Gachagua, but, even more importantly, when Ruto craftily put into motion a plan that would assure him re-election in 2027 without anyone heavily breathing over his neck.
How so? Because it marked the first time what Gachagua has been saying about shareholding has been contradicted and, in fact, dismissed by the President.
That’s a biggie and both sentiments can't coexist. This means Gachagua either abandons his hard stance on this and starts singing and dancing to the President’s tune and music or let him dust off Ruto’s VP playbook at the Karen residence from 2017 and try and see if he can replicate obviously under vastly different circumstances.
It’s doubtful he can succeed.
Ruto need not do much about this than to stay on course. It’s Gachagua who has the burden of proving he has the proverbial bigger balls as Ruto did in the lead-up to 2022 and proved he did.
