DP Ruto shares some unpleasant qualities with the soon to be deposed President of the United States, Mr. Donald J. Trump. I say forceful removal from office because it is uncertain whether Mr. Trump will willingly leave the White House in Washington, DC or it will take the combined efforts of the U.S. Navy and Airforce to facilitate his departure from office.
Whereas Donald Trump appeals to uneducated poor folks in rural America, DP Ruto also employs the same tactics as he has been actively courting the unemployed youth whom he has tried to woo with manual labor capital assets such as wheelbarrows, car-wash machines and salon equipment.
The aim of DP Ruto’s desire to be in good terms with this part of the Kenyan demographics is to ensure that they will reciprocate at the ballot by voting for him. It is quite noting that this habit of giving handouts to voters indeed amounts to bribery. While tolerated in Kenya and other developing countries, this practise is actually illegal in most mature democracies such as the United States, the European Union and even China.
Nevertheless, giving handouts brings positive results, especially if one’s goals are to secure a political office. This is because a majority of Kenyans are poor and a handout here and there will go a long way in the constant struggle to survive. This explains why Mike Mbuvi Sonko has been successful in his political career via his Sonko Rescue Team.
Nominated Senator Millicent Omanga has tried to emulate the Nairobi governor’s philanthropy with hopes of getting elected, but it does not look like she is proficient in this craft. She did run for the Nairobi County Women Representative Jubilee nominations but got defeated by Rachel Shebeshi.
After losing out to Ms Shebeshi, Millicent Omanga got nominated as a senator by DP Ruto. It is this nomination that will keep Ms Omanga interested in Ruto’s antics of distributing wheelbarrows to uneducated and unemployed youth. Just like Ms Omanga, DP Ruto wants to maintain political relevance by keeping busy in the community.
Other than distributing hand-carts and wheelbarrows, DP Ruto has sought refuge in houses of worship throughout the country. Whereas the DP wants to be seen as a devout Christian, this is far from the truth. The deputy president is merely using the churches as a free audience to propagate his political propaganda and hopes of ascending to power come 2022.
One needs to remember that DP Ruto has been ostracized from the government since the Handshake between the ODM principal Raila Odinga and his Jubilee counterpart Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, took place. Basically, the DP feels that the only place to maintain his relevance in Kenyan politics is in churches, harambees and the so called “Youth Empowerment projects”.
But with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s smart youth package under the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), it is yet to be seen whether the youth will abandon the DP’s wheelbarrows and embrace almost a decade of tax-free youth entrepreneurship package. Not only did president Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga extend an olive branch to the youth by offering tax-breaks, they also came up with business incubation centres and HELB loans repayment plans that are palatable to the youth.
Under the recently released BBI Report, the youth-owned businesses will enjoy a seven-year tax break while graduates will be allowed a four-year grace period before they are required to pay their student loans.
“The proposed HELB amendment further exempt loanees without a source of income from paying interest on the loans advanced to them until such a time that the loanees start earning income,” the BBI report says.
To most people, BBI does gives the youth more benefits in the long-run than DP Ruto’s wheelbarrow, mikokoteni and car-wash handouts. Whreas DP Ruto’s “Youth Empowerment Package” is free, it is president Kenyatta and Raila Odinga’s BBI that offers more bang for the youth’s money and effort. It is worth noting that DP Ruto also fails to address the issue of HELB loan repayment.
But deputy president Ruto does not need to worry about this because his audience are mostly Jua Kali workers and the sections of the youth that did not pursue a post-secondary education.
But the most pressing question is this: Will DP Ruto rise to the occasion and win the presidency? Probably not. This is because William Ruto does not know how to build bridges with important people above his position. Whereas he enjoyed a close relationship with president Uhuru Kenyatta during his first term in office, the DP quickly fell out of favor with the head of state immediately after they were sworn in for their second and final terms in office.
Political pundits have pointed out that DP Ruto misfired by starting to campaign for the 2022 presidential elections too early. Two different schools of thought have tried to explain DP Ruto’s odd behaviour of abandoning Uhuru Kenyatta’s government in order to engage in an ill-advised campaign for the 2022 general elections.
Some people argue that DP Ruto’s greed drove him to start campaigning early for the coveted top political office in the country. But some people think that DP Ruto is actually nervous about his political future. After all, he has basked under the shadow of president Uhuru Kenyatta for a decade and has enjoyed the benefits of being in such a beneficial relationship.
It is important to note that DP Ruto is a nobody without his association with president Uhuru Kenyatta. This is because it is unlikely that Ruto could have been elected as the country’s DP without Uhuru Kenyatta at the top. Kenyan voters voted for president Uhuru Kenyatta. But Ruto happened to be in the package. It is safe to say that DP Ruto’s success is not earned. He only succeeded by hanging on president Uhuru Kenyatta’s coattails.
The DP has shown Kenyans his true colors. Nothing disappoints the Kenyan public than images of the number two in government riding wheelbarrows like a five year-old child while the rest of the government officials are at a COVID-19 conference. It does send the wrong message about the DP’s mental well-being and his position in the country.
This is why most Kenyans believe the DP should resign from the government has he is not contributing to the success of the Kenyan government.
But there is no surprise with DP Ruto’s behaviour. After all, his lack of loyalty to the president is nothing new. This is the very same man that is not loyal even to his own wife. This is because the DP was already married when he had his daughter out of wedlock. If a man is not loyal to his own wife, the expectation of him to be loyal to his boss is a little bit far-fetched.
This explains why most Kenyans will never vote for him because he has demonstrated that he is a self-serving politician who abandons his responsibility as an elected government official to pursue personal ambitions. Uhuruto was given another five years at the helm, but the DP literally abandoned Uhuru Kenyatta to single-handedly run the country while the DP is prematurely campaigning for an election that is four years down the road.
One thing that most people have come to realize is that Uhuru Kenyatta likes leaders that take their jobs seriously. The president expects government officials to strive for excellence in their service delivery to the layman mwananchi. This is why Mr. Kenyatta likes to surround himself with high-caliber civil servants such as Dr. Fred Matiang’i et al.
In fact, one can argue that Dr. Matiang’i is actually discharging the duties of a deputy president after being appointed the Super Cabinet Secretary by Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta. If it was pre-2010 promulgation period, a majority of Kenyans believe president Uhuru Kenyatta could have replaced DP Ruto by now. This is because under the current constitution, a president is barred from firing his deputy president. But that will change if the proposed BBI Report is implemented.
Another factor that will turn-off voters is DP Ruto’s preference for chaos, dysfunction, and mayhem. This is why his relationship with president Uhuru Kenyatta hit the rocks. Whereas the president likes to have things in an orderly version, the DP likes to attract attention to himself by promoting anarchy. Mr. Ruto has brainwashed his Tangatanga followers to believe that they are victims and that the government is their enemy.
By making his followers think that they are been oppressed by president Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, DP Ruto has quickly positioned himself as a hero to these “oppressed” people. DP Ruto is a master of manipulation and mind control. The more uneducated his followers are, the better for him. This explains why people like the Kapseret MP Mr. Oscar Sudi and the Ekuru Dikirr MP Johana Ng’eno feel a need to attack president Uhuru Kenyatta’s mother.
The last time I checked, Mama Ngina Kenyatta was not holding any political office. In fact, since she ceased to be Kenya’s First Lady some 42 years ago, Ms Ngina has preferred to keep a low profile away from politics. But this has not stopped crass and misguided Tangatanga politicians from going after her.
