A lot has been said about the passing of former President Mwai Kibaki.
It is only a few days after he was put in his final resting place, but his being no more has yet to be fully felt or realised even among those who miss him already.
For his shortcomings, for which no one is perfect, Kibaki was and will always be remembered as an intelligent, detail-oriented leader, who grasped and understood the details of governance that were reflected in the much he did to bring the country where he left it: A far much better country than he found it.
When he handed over the baton to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the expectation was the successor would take the country even higher. Has he done so? An objective answer would be, no, but he has tried.
Uhuru and his deputy, William Ruto, spent their first two years in office constantly looking behind their shoulders to see exactly how close the ICC prosecutors and their nooses were getting.
This meant their preoccupation with ICC left a vacuum that was filled with cartels that had open season with public coffers.
When Uhuru’s ICC case was terminated on March 13, 2015, Ruto was the only one facing the prospect of a hangman between the two.
The termination of the ICC cases against Uhuru also set in motion events that are still unfolding to this day. It was then Ruto must have realised the interests that joined them were not anymore.
Ruto thus embarked on not only a survival strategy, but also a very well-choreographed and executed scheme to clandestinely amass power and build a war chest unlike any country has ever seen. He did so almost effortlessly.
By the time the handshake came about, nearly all of Mt Kenya region was gone the Ruto way, leaving many to scratch their heads even to this day as to why.
To be sure, there are three simple, rational, and indisputable reasons why Ruto had this success in making inroads in the region.
One is money and two, the extreme hatred of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who has been demonized in the region for decades.
Fortunately, starting from the awakening following the handshake, even the very leaders who demonized him have since done an about turn and confessed they were wrong and are now fully behind him and Uhuru to have Raila become president.
Third is Ruto’s effectiveness in preaching water while drinking wine. Ruto or his supporters may protest the metaphor saying Ruto does not drink wine. Fine.
The third reason would therefore be Ruto cleverly fooling masses that he has a solution for their misery, which he doesn’t, has not had and never will.
If Ruto somehow gets sworn as the next president, the very people singing praises of him and treating him as the answer to their problems will never know what hit them when the truck known as Daniel Moi 2.0 comes crushing them to nothingness.
Put it more diplomatically, a Ruto presidency will be for the country, and Mt Kenya specifically a throwback to where rolled up his sleeves and decided to show his real or perceived enemies what real power can do. Except Ruto’s will be 10 times worse.
Is this what the country wants? Of course not.
Is this what Mt. Kenya region wants? Certainly not.
Who then shall rise and quell hysteria in Mt Kenya about Ruto? It is leaders from the region such as Martha Karua, CS Peter Munya and the likeminded.
Only their success will save us from that which shall surely come, if they fail.
Samuel Omwenga is a legal analyst and political commentator
