Deputy President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga have perfected the art of going for each other’s jugular, an animosity that dates back to the Grand Coalition days when Ruto accused Raila of orchestrating the eviction of his Kalenjin community from the Mau Forest.
While Ruto refers to Raila as the ‘Lord of Poverty’, Raila has dismissed him as the ‘High Priest of Corruption’, creating a wedge between their supporters and putting the nation in a constant mood of political tension at a time resources should be pulled towards achieving the much-touted Big Four agenda.
Every move Raila makes is viewed with scepticism from the Ruto camp, and every step Ruto makes is treated as an attention-seeking political stunt. One does not need a degree in rocket science to understand that church harambees spearheaded by Ruto and the Raila’s referendum push do not add any food on the table of millions of Kenyans.
The Ruto-Raila feud should be a case study on how not to develop Kenya. They have proven to be two sides of a coin and are hypocritical when they say they are for the national good. Past trends point to a duo cringing at the sight of any challenger to their stranglehold on their political backyards. The Big Four agenda, which they both claim to support President Uhuru Kenyatta on, have nothing to do with harambees or a referendum.
Are they rocking the President’s boat or is the President part of their political machinations? If they are rocking his boat, then it is high time they threw in the towel and left Uhuru with people who have the interest of the nation. And if the president is part of these machinations, then Kenya’s economic turnaround will remain a wild goose chase.
@ApolloJoab
