• Winning often depends on who wants it the most
• Ruto knows where his dinner is and is ready to go for it as others seek their paths
Once upon a time, a strong and powerful Dog was chasing a small Rabbit. After running for a long time, the dog gave up on the hunt.
A herd of goats that was watching the chase mocked the Dog, saying the little Rabbit was better than the beast. To this the Dog responded: ‘The Rabbit was running for its life, I was only running for dinner. That is the difference between us.”
In all aspects of life, winning often depends on who wants it the most. And this is the story of one Dr William Samoei Ruto and we saw this just a few days ago.
Ruto is a tactful strategist and over the last week, he showed us that he has what it takes to win when he wants to. His political prowess is unmatched and now his political opponents are running all over not sure of his next move.
At the beginning of the month, there were two by-elections in Ugenya and Embakasi West that have sent ripples across politics in the country. Not so surprisingly, ODM, which appears to be getting deflated each day, lost in both by-elections.
Ruto is a tactful strategist and over the last week, he showed us that he has what it takes to win when he wants to. His political prowess is unmatched and now his political opponents are running all over not sure of his next move
While Jubilee was not contesting in any of the by-elections, Ruto’s name prominently featured in the campaigns like he was a candidate. Many even made it a contest between him and ODM leader Raila Odinga and he was the winner in all of it.
Additionally, Jubilee was able to steal away the Wajir West candidate from ODM, and most of the other candidates have decided not to run. Other than taking the former MP from ODM, he took the current ODM candidate and then the LPK and Agano candidates.
The contest is now between Jubilee and Kanu and the common thread here too will be Ruto.
What was interesting to note is that in both by-elections in Ugenya and Embakasi West, ODM was the frontrunner and it lost both seats. As a result, ODM is now having its own internal wars as blame games intensify.
There have been a lot of accusations and counter-accusations, but there is something that must be noted—the DP was involved, directly or indirectly, and created an upset in both by-elections.
Without a doubt, if elections were to be held today, it is clear that Ruto is the frontrunner and is the man to beat. He has a plan and is executing it with ease while always appearing prepared and knowing when to hit and which battle to take.
Even as people push him to the wall with all manner of accusations, the DP understands the politics they are playing and he knows when to engage and when not to. Like the dog in our story, Ruto knows where his dinner is and is ready to go for it as others seek their paths.
They say a day is a long time in politics and we are a long way from the 2022 election. Things could and have been known to change, especially when the election is still years to come.
But if the DP is able to maintain momentum as he has, he will be a difficult candidate to beat and it’s likely that he will be able to ensure that he wins a majority of seats in the national and county assemblies.
Wherever Ruto goes, he is able to attract political respect and build his capital, which will come in very handy in the next election. Just like he worked hard to bring together all the parties that supported President Uhuru Kenyatta’s candidature in 2017, Ruto is putting everything together.
As others argue over who is to blame for which loss, Ruto is smiling at his latest win and planning for the next one. It boils down to strategy and Ruto has proven to be a strategic politician.