These are testing times for DP Ruto

The Building Bridges Initiative report has hit an anti-climax as Deputy President William Ruto and his allies have changed tack. They have declared that they are ready for any eventuality, including a referendum, throwing Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s team into a spin.

What appeared to many as “cut and dry” is no longer so and all parties have gone back to the drawing board. Recent events point at the Deputy President plotting a palace coup. The President is becoming an increasingly isolated man. In an unprecedented move 12 MPs skipped a presidential function in his Kiambu backyard in solidarity with Ruto. This is a dangerous move as a cornered President could come out fighting like a wounded lion.

The March 9, 2018, handshake between bitter adversaries Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila curiously sidelined Ruto. Until that point Ruto had cut the image of a co-President. Team Ruto, nicknamed Tangatanga, had previously fought the handshake. The more they fought, the more Ruto was relegated to near purgatory.

Mercifully they have stopped digging and are now strategising. By relying on their parliamentary numbers team Ruto could run away with the BBI and take the wind out of their adversary’s sails. Several team Ruto members had made this proposal. They appear to have eventually carried the day.

To state that the handshake has created a wedge between President and deputy would be an understatement. The handshake has turned out to be a political masterstroke for Raila and a nightmare for Ruto. It has left the official opposition in tatters. Raila is now able to shadow-box Ruto whilst hiding behind the President. Every time Ruto attempts to respond it is viewed as insubordination.

The mismanagement of the economy by disgraced Treasury mandarins Rotich and Thugge has not helped matters. It has placed Uhuru’s legacy in severe jeopardy as government by all appearances is broke. Paradoxically it has provided the government with a “fall guy” or scapegoat.

By pointing fingers at Ruto in several corruption schemes yet unproven they are subtly placing the skunk at his feet. This may be currently politically convenient but ultimately the buck stops with the President. Can Ruto boldly state this? Hardly! The man intends to succeed his boss and must be seen as loyal and docile. He is definitely between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea.

This writer has in the past described Ruto as one amongst many of retired President Moi’s political protégés. He undoubtedly turned out to be his most perspicacious pupil. So outstanding was he, that he eventually tore away leadership of the populous vote-rich Rift Valley from his master, an acknowledged self-styled Professor of Kenyan politics.

The two are currently bitter adversaries. This writer was recently corrected by a fellow columnist who said that Moi always played his cards close to his chest and never showed his hand as Vice President. He would strategise and deliver devastating blows to his opponents from behind the scenes but never let his latent ambition show.

Is Ruto like Icarus of Greek mythology, flying too close to the sun? Icarus was the son of master craftsman Daedalus the creator of the labyrinth. Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings his father had created from feathers and wax.

Icarus’ father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris asking that he fly neither too low or too high so the sea dampness would not clog his wings nor the sun melt them. Icarus ignored his father’s warning not to fly too close to the sun. His wings melted and he tumbled out of the sky and fell into the sea where he drowned.