Ruto continues to bare his fangs

It was the end of the fifth moon in remote Baringo county when the first wife of the village’s only cobbler fell pregnant. The cobbler denied responsibility and chased her away.

When the child was born, however, he was the spitting image of his father the cobbler. Now the cobbler wanted her back, but Taprandich felt slighted and brokenhearted. She found herself another man, more handsome than the cobbler and off they went to build a future together as the cobbler sulked for days and started chasing after other village beauties.

This narrative best exemplifies the current political context. Some politicians in Tangatanga had trashed the Building Bridges Initiative in a manner demeaning to the handshake.

BBI is running smoothly on its second leg with ODM leader Raila Odinga leading the show amid undercurrents of political realignments. BBI has reached a point of no return and those who have been throwing jibes have realised that it is safer to join it for their own political expedience. Raila is hogging the headlines as his allies and those of President Uhuru Kenyatta drum up support for him and BBI. 

But on the other side of the coin is a group with political ambitions of their own, which is in order. Tangatanga had to go to the drawing board to strategise on how to elbow out Raila as the leading light of BBI to save face and slam the breaks on his growing influence on post-Jubilee politics.

This is acceptable in the murky world of politics although sometimes one has to study a body of water before wading in.

Thanks to political contests, Rift Valley will soon be witnessing two BBI platforms; one formed by the DP and one by his boss. Ruto has tasked a section of legislators and senators aligned to him with popularising BBI in the region by aligning their public rallies with his political ambitions.

Days before the DP formed his own BBI group in his backyard, President Uhuru had tapped Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos to carry the BBI mantle with assistance from Baringo Senator Gideon Moi and Baringo Woman Rep Gladwell Tungo.

But what disturbs political minds is how Tangatanga will be attending BBI rallies planned by Kieleweke and ODM while drawing up a timetable for Rift Valley BBI rallies to be led by Ruto’s allies, including Mandago and Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen .

Although Tangatanga’s hot balloon is punctured, with its frontline lieutenants being treated by the Deep State like the problematic locust invasion, they have decided to fight from within. The DP himself has not been spared. Among other things, he was recently chased out of his official residence in Mombasa like a stray greyhound.

With no place to hide, they are wary of what the future holds for them as the BBI’s second leg begins. The DP’s faction has decided to take the bull by the horns and tackle their opponents by locking horns on a shared platform. By joining the bandwagon, they want to be credited for driving the course. But will this stick?

Their actions are targeting Raila, a man they have never pretended to like, even mildly. Even before the handshake Uhuru’s agreement with Ruto was doomed, but Raila automatically became the fall guy following the historic handshake on March 9, 2018.

Ruto’s current move brings him for the umpteenth time on a collision course with the President and multiplies his enmity with Raila.

Ruto’s latest plan in Rift Valley is two-pronged: To protect his turf from perceived encroachment by forces out to threaten his grip and secondly, to flex his financial muscle and show his nemesis who runs the show.

Al in all, one thing is for sure, Ruto is ready to continue baring his fangs in a political contestation whose soft underbelly continues to be exposed.