- The illusion of a shared presidency has dissipated but the man is resilient in the face of adversities.
- The third level of trimming of the DP’s presidential wings is expected when the Gema communities know their stake in the Uhuru succession.
After three years of unrelenting deconstruction (or shall we say decapitation?), Deputy President William Ruto confirms he still retains two anchors – God and the people – to bolster his presidential ambition.
The two are pillars he shares with everyone else. There is no claim of monopoly on God and the people. Every other political formation for the 2022 presidential election counts on God, the people, and money. God is for everyone who hopes for guidance and divine intervention.
The people, however, are ephemeral, with frail often shifting loyalties. You get to know where the people stand when the rubber hits the road. Now you see them when the purse is fat and opens easily. The next time they could vanish.
But how did the DP become lonely in a crowd, without rancorous cheerleaders to chorus his praises and hustler credentials? The deconstruction of the DP, the confident boss of the once revving Tangatanga squadron, has entered the third realm. It is an unrelenting slow motion purge of the second-level court, hitherto a parallel centre of state power.
There were always three ways of deconstructing Jubilee renegades: President Uhuru Kenyatta showing his claws to affirm there is only one centre of state power. He has since asserted his authority as president and party leader. His official presidential term ends in 2022. Beyond this, the field will be open for any other cock to crow.
He sacked Ruto’s ally Mwangi Kiunjuri as Agriculture Cabinet Secretary. Kiunjuri’s exit robbed the DP of a potential running mate from Mt Kenya region. The man has lost visibility. Earlier, Sports CS Rashid Echesa, another Ruto ally, was ejected. Now, all Cabinet secretaries are on leave, and a reshuffle expected on their return could further isolate the DP.
His supporters have also been ejected from the management committee of the ruling Jubilee Party. Uhuru has de-winged the DP’s allies in Parliament. The victims of the presidential purge have lost official platforms to market their benefactor. The subsequent grievance fest has exposed the vulnerability of the DP.
There are no more government machineries, including police, to bulldoze his presidential campaign. The slowdown is devastating for a man who believed the keys to State House were his to grab.
The DP has had an excruciating presidential ambition seizure, which has been divisive and distractive in the estimation of the President. It’s been the single-most reason for indiscipline in the ruling party, attracting the envy and wrath of power.
Power pounced, leaving the DP a spectator in a show he helped to script during the 2013 and 2017 elections. The illusion of a shared presidency has dissipated. There is only one centre of power—one totem pole around which Jubilee leaders orbit.
The office of the DP is now a department in the Office of the President, thanks to Executive Order No 1 of 2020. The decapitation leaves the DP lonely, but still set on the road to State House. The man is resilient in the face of adversities. The unhappy have been told to shape up or ship out. Some, including the DP, have opted to play the victim to extend their stay in the shadows of power.
The DP’s rants against the system or the deep state is a realisation his presidential ambition is in peril. He suspects the deep state or the system may have rejected him as Uhuru’s preferred successor.
There are no more government machineries, including police, to bulldoze his presidential campaign. The slowdown is devastating for a man who believed the keys to State House were his to grab.
The third level of trimming of the DP’s presidential wings is expected when the Gema communities know their stake in the Uhuru succession. A people long used to the comfort of power, under presidents Jomo Kenyatta 1963-1978, Mwai Kibaki 2002-2013, and Uhuru 2013-2022, would do with a consolation stake on the national podium.
The system spurn presents the challenge of finding a viable running mate from Mt Kenya to bolster the DP’s dwindling stocks. Until Gema voters know their stake, counting on Central Kenya people remains a dream, built on shifting sands.