MONDA: Understanding Ruto’s strategic move on Office of Leader of Opposition

As the curtains fell on the August 9, 2022, Kenyan General Election and I cast my vote in the Nairobi suburb of Kajiado, I reflected on the intense focus Kenyans have on the office of the President.

Dr William Ruto won the right to become only Kenya’s fifth president since Independence.

It was with equally incredulous eyes that I observed President Ruto, the de facto head of the United Democratic Alliance party, work to organise the opposition into a grouping that would effectively put his government in check. Why would the head of the government work to empower the opposition?  

Understanding Ruto’s strategic move on the Office of Leader of the Opposition is rooted in the Kenya Kwanza leader looking to divide and weaken the opposition. Azimio has seen high-level defections to Kenya Kwanza since the end of the last election.

This week, for instance, former President Uhuru Kenyatta resigned as the head of the Azimio coalition. Before him, former Cabinet Secretaries including Sicily Kariuki intimated in the media of their openness to working with Kenya Kwanza. A big blow to Azimio. 

With this in mind, Ruto’s creation of the Office of Leader of Opposition works to do three things. One, to divide the demoralised opposition with the bait of a plum government position in parliament. This position is going to an ambitious politician salivating at the prospects of power in a post-Raila political environment. Raila will become yesterday’s man.

Two, to prop up an alternate political titular head to Raila in Parliament and dim the power of the opposition icon as the focus of opposition politics and the centre of an alternative government.

Thirdly, shift the political narrative from a series of political problems that bedevil the Kenya Kwanza administration. These include the inflated cost of living, rising crime and the huge debt burden from the previous Uhuru administration.

The move to create the new office of Leader of Opposition will take half the political cycle between 2022 to the next election. Ultimately, the proposition will end up dead in court. However, the political space will be filled with fights over the legality of the office rather than debates over policy programmes that will improve the lives of the Kenyan people.  

It appears the legal hurdles that face the creation of Office of Leader of Opposition are numerous. These range from the Law Society of Kenya, civil society organisations and individual citizen activists acting on public interest legal grounds.

But that is not the point. Ruto is playing a political card, not a legal one. A move to consolidate his position as president and disempower any centres of opposition that might limit his capacity to govern and advance his party agenda.   

Prof Monda teaches political science, international relations, and American government at the City University of New York (York College), New York, USA. [email protected] @dmonda1, davidmonda.com