Drop calls to impeach Ruto

Sir Bob Geldof once said, "There are those who will stand outside the tent peeing in, there are those who will be inside the tent peeing out – and then there are the others who will stand inside the tent peeing on the ground where they stand.”

He explained, "The reason for that is simple. Sometimes, by being momentarily allowed inside the tent, you can stink the place up so much that they want you out - at a reasonable price".

It is now clear that the country is headed to a referendum following the overwhelming support for BBI in the National Assembly. It is expected that the Senate will also vote in the same way as the National Assembly, with the only hurdle being the courts which are to make a decision soon.

The overwhelming support for BBI has altered the perception of who controls Parliament currently and this has had some people make all manner of comments over the weekend.

After the parliamentary vote last week, there have been statements made from a cross-section of leaders on the need to plan for impeachment. Their comments are based on the two-thirds majority that was attained at the BBI vote.

This was the first time in a long time that Parliament was achieving a two-thirds majority. Some now think this is a good time to apply the impeachment process and remove Deputy President William Ruto from office, requiring a two-thirds majority.

But those making the suggestions that it is time to impeach Ruto are being naive about the whole issue. I think the country, and especially President Uhuru Kenyatta, does not need this kind of sideshow that will just distract everyone from the work ahead.

Firstly, an impeachment would be a catastrophic political miscalculation. Not only will any attempt to castigate and attack Ruto backfire spectacularly, but it will also build a lot of sympathy towards the DP and build him politically, unless that is the plan.

In politics, the best way to destroy a politician is to ignore them completely instead of what we are seeing now where some are just pushing attention to the DP. This energy and focus should be directed towards convincing Kenyans that they need to support BBI at the referendum.

Secondly, there will be no benefit to impeach the Deputy President this close to the next election, especially with a referendum coming up. There is a bigger danger of pushing the DP out of government at this time, including making him tarnish the government he has been part of easily.

So, the proponents of this notion that the DP should be impeached should seek an understanding of which of the three examples by Sir Bob would work best for the upcoming referendum, the President’s agenda and the future of the country.

The third reason why the move by some to focus on impeaching Ruto is naive and unnecessary is that President Uhuru Kenyatta is focused on completing his agenda in his last year as President.

To impeach Ruto at this time would give the DP’s supporters unnecessary ammunition against the President, thus, creating uncalled for distractions to the development agenda, which should be the focus.

Those politicians deluded into thinking that impeaching the Deputy President is a good idea should desist and focus on what we should all do to secure the President's transformation agenda.

The political focus right now should be how to ensure that the BBI goes through the referendum successfully. Those who want to focus on Ruto can wait for him in 2022 and deny him the opportunity to be president through the ballot.

It is even more strategic to not focus on him at the moment and see how he mobilises for the referendum. If he leads the no campaign and loses, that will be a better result than impeaching him.

So to all politicians who support the handshake, let’s focus on the referendum and Uhuru’s transformation agenda.