It was very difficult to watch the Deputy President William Ruto explain his tribulations at the hands of Uhuru Kenyatta and his proxies at the ruling Jubilee Party. For most people, this is very common in their work-life where one is stuck in a job they hate but of which they can’t quit as they don’t have an alternative source of income. But for the Deputy President, his work-life is laid bare for the whole nation to see. If Ruto quits, it will be a humiliating blow to the deputy president’s ego and political career as his supporters will see him as a weak leader and may consider aligning themselves with stronger allies than him.
His cries for help from the boss (Uhuru Kenyatta) to save him from bullies in Ruto’s Jubilee ‘workplace’ were flatly ignored by the head of state who enjoyed watching the deputy president’s masahibu on wide-screen TV. One can say that Uhuru Kenyatta actually enjoys watching Ruto’s miseries live on national television. The president only forgot some popcorn while enjoying the evening drama unfold. After all, the deputy president has made it clear that president Uhuru Kenyatta must retire in 2022 after his second term ends.
But behold, the deputy president can be forgiven for not reading the writings on the wall! Uhuru Kenyatta does not want to retire. He still craves power and would like to hang on like glue to Kenya’s highest political office past 2022. Mr. Kenyatta does not give a flying rat about the constitution. This is because Jomo Kenyatta’s reincarnate considers himself above the law and thinks he can do whatever he wants. This is a dude who was born with a silver plate (not a spoon) in his mouth.
After all, president Kenyatta showed the Europeans and the Americans a middle finger when they were baying for his and the deputy president’s blood by prosecuting them at the Hague. How did that happen? By sticking a finger in the white man’s eyes who considered the two unfit to run for political office as they were under investigation for Crimes Against Humanity for their roles in the deadly inter-tribal cleansing conflict of the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence.
Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto who come from the largest and the third largest tribes in the country ran for the presidency and won not only once but back to back in a row. If you think this was a coincidence, then you can check your faculties to make sure they are not malfunctioning. The two men partnered together to proof a point to the international community: Kenya was a sovereign country and that colonialism ended half a century prior in 2013. The whiteman can go “f” himself as he has no say about Kenyan politics.
False Promises, False Hopes
But what in hell transpired after that was all done? Is William Ruto that disposable? Did Uhuru Kenyatta use him and then decided to dump him like a used condom? Well, politics in Kenya is about interest and self serving agendas. Whereas Uhuru Kenyatta has referred to William Ruto as his brother from another mother, the president do not have a genuine interest in that kind of friendship. Neither is any politician in Kenya has an altruistic motivation to help a fellow politician without expecting something in return.
The issue is that the deputy president and the president’s bromance effectively ended the moment they were sworn into office after the 2017 presidential election results. In fact the fact that deputy president William Ruto revealed that he was told to stay in the sidelines and let Uhuru Kenyatta run the show in an attempt to cement is legacy is quite telling.
Uhuru Kenyatta just deceived the deputy president to take it easy and not overshadow the president’s key legacy projects in order to hide what Mr. Kenyatta had in store for the deputy president. He was planning to double-cross William Ruto who has always believed that the Mount Kenya kingpin will support him for the presidency in 2022. Nimalize yangu Kumi Kisha Mheshimiwa Ruto amalize yake kumi na mambo iendelee mbele. Kwani iko shida? This was the infamous propaganda president Uhuru Kenyatta uttered in an attempt to cloak his backhanded attempt to sabotage William Ruto’s political career.
Falling Out Of Favor
President Uhuru Kenyatta has been busy undermining and eroding William Ruto’s influence within the Jubilee Party. The president uses his loyal proxies including Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Jubilee Party Secretary General Tuju and the Jubilee deputy chairman David Murathe. The Jubilee Party Leader Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta has shied away from attacking his deputy heads on in order to avoid alienating supporters of William Ruto not only in Rift Valley but also from his own backyard in central province.
But at this point, everyone knows that the president and his deputy do not see each other eye to eye as their relationship is irrevocably damaged beyond repair. Again, this is because both the number 1 and the number 2 in the country want to be head of state after 2022 and are covertly competing with each other.
But the president being at the helm has more resources he can tap into in order to score a winning knockout punch against his junior adversary from Sugoi. The son of Jomo has not hesitated from using the state machinery afforded to him to frustrate the outnumbered and “outgunned” deputy president.
Mr. Kenyatta has flashed out all proxies loyal to the deputy president including loud-mouth and testosterone-rich Elgeyo Marakwet senator Kipchumba Murkomen and the “black widow spider” senator from Nakuru Ms. Susan Kihika (don’t laugh, this is how Uhuru Kenyatta sees these people in his mind). He has also targeted the barking Garissa Township MP Mr Aden Dwale who has been supportive of deputy president William Ruto’s ambition to rise to the throne in 2022.
The Jubilee “machinery” did not stop there, they further clipped William Ruto’s wings by banning him from launching any projects in the country on behalf of the government. Now, effectively, this is a veiled attempt to push the deputy president out of power. Remember an article we aired a few months ago about Uhuru Kenyatta’s abolition of the deputy president’s office? That was not an accident. The president is gradually making deputy president William Ruto’s stay at the ruling Jubilee party untenable and sooner or later, Ruto will be left with no other option than to throw in the towel and resign.
What to Expect If the Deputy President resigns.
If William Ruto acts on his threats to quit from government, there are a lot of things that will happen. The most obvious one of course will be that Uhuru Kenyatta’s “dogs” who have been barking at the deputy president will retreat happily and re-strategize by targeting somebody else. David Murathe and Raphael Tuju will invent another “enemy” to the president’s career in order for them to stay useful and relevant to the head of state to keep them around.
Fred Matiang’i will also throw in a victory party as he had been vexed by the deputy president’s attacks to the Ministry of Interior regarding the illegal intimidation and arrests of Samburu and Bomet counties senators in an attempt to influence the voting in favour of Mount Kenya population-rich counties’ lion share of the revenue. The revenue sharing formula stand-off has been going on for more than six months now hence frustrating the delusional “supreme leader” of the “people”s republic of Kenya, Mr. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.
Constitution-wise, if deputy president resigns, Uhuru Kenyatta as president will be tasked with the responsibility of nominating his deputy president. Whom do you think Uhuru Kenyatta will nominate? Well, the no-nonsense chinkororo son of the Abagusii community, Mr. Fred Matiang’i will be shortlisted for the number two job in the country. Uhuru Kenyatta likes decisive and tough subordinates to supplement the president’s meek personality. Matiang’i has all that.
After all, president Kenyatta actually got kicked out of KANU about a decade ago because he was considered a door mat by his colleagues but now wants to project that to his deputy president at the Jubilee Party. Uhuru Kenyatta knows how humiliating this is as he has been at the receiving end before. By law, president Kenyatta will have only 14 days to nominate deputy president William Ruto’s replacement.
A second option will be that Uhuru Kenyatta will quickly nominate his former arch-rival turned ally and the ODM strongman Mr. Raila Odinga for the deputy presidency. Note that right now, Mr. Odinga and Mr. Kenyatta are unofficially sharing power. To put that into perspective, Uhuru Kenyatta considers Raila Odinga as his equal to some extent and does allow the former prime minister to pull strings within his Jubilee government.
Actually, only a week ago did a lot of Mount Kenya cartels such as Peter Kenneth and the scandal-prone Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru attend Ida Odinga’s birthday party. This in itself shows you what extent the central Kenya block is willing to go in order to secure their political career past the 2022 presidential elections. They are all reading from the same script regarding the referendum and changing the constitution to make that happen.
If Deputy President William Ruto hands in his resignation notice, it will take effect the date he mentions on his resignation letter. But if the man from Sugoi is pissed off by the Mount Kenya cartels’ attacks on him and decides not to mention a date in which he will pack up and leave, the constitution stipulates that the deputy president will cease his duties by noon the following day after handing in his/her resignation letter.
What If Deputy President Ruto Don’t Resign But Uhuru Kenyatta Wants him Out anyways?
Should the Jubilee Party and the Mount Kenya block want the deputy president out, they do have a range of options to employ in an attempt to dislodge the deputy president from the government. Of course they can’t force the deputy president to resign because he will refuse to comply but they know Ruto has a soft underbelly when it comes to corruption scandals. Talk about the Maize scandals, the Kimwarer and Arror Dam scandals, the fake arms deal scandals, and the list goes on and on.
As per the constitution, gross violation of the constitution is one ground for which the deputy president and of course even the president himself can be impeached from office. After all the Kenyan Constitution states that:
(1) The Deputy President may be removed from office–
(a) on the ground of physical or mental incapacity to perform the functions of the office; or
(b) on impeachment–
(i) on the ground of a gross violation of a provision of this Constitution or any other law;
(ii) where there are serious reasons to believe that the Deputy President has committed a crime under national or international law; or
(iii) for gross misconduct.
(2) The provisions of Articles 144 and 145 relating to the removal of the President shall apply, with the necessary modifications,to the removal of the Deputy President.
It is worth noting that Uhuru Kenyatta and his henchmen at the ruling Jubilee Party will not want to go this route in their attempt to remove their unwanted “guest” who has overstayed his invite into their nice political party. This is because they know they will lose as Chief Justice David Maraga (who is also allergic to Uhuru Kenyatta like Ruto is) do not like the president at all.
The head of the Executive arm of government and the Judicial arm of the government have traded jabs at each other precipitated by the latter’s nullifying Uhuru’s initial victory at the 2017 presidential elections. They do not want to risk another blow like that. So Uhuru Kenyatta will just do what us Human Resources do when we do not like a certain employee: Constructive Dismissal. Constructive dismissal is a management tactic in which a manager makes the work environment so hostile to a certain employee in order to initiate their resignation.
That is exactly what Uhuru Kenyatta and his henchmen are doing. To make deputy president William Ruto’s life a living hell at Jubilee until he throws in the towel. And oh boy, did Ruto acknowledge he is almost there during his interview a few days ago! You can’t make this sh!t up. Deputy president Ruto’s career is screwed-up!
A Toothless “Powerful” Lion?
It is worth noting that the constitution lays down the roles of the deputy president as follows:
(1) The Deputy President shall be the principal assistant of the President and shall deputise for the President in the execution of the President’s functions.
(2) The Deputy President shall perform the functions conferred by this Constitution and any other functions of the President as the President may assign.
(3) Subject to Article 134, when the President is absent or is temporarily incapacitated, and during any other period that the President decides, the Deputy President shall act as the President.
(4) The Deputy President shall not hold any other State or public office.
But since Uhuru Kenyatta has the power to assign the deputy president tasks, he has just told Ruto not to launch any project on behalf of the president and hence making him the least powerful politician in the country despite holding the second powerful office in the land. One can say deputy president William Ruto currently wields less power than CS Fred Mating’i in the country. Even Matiang’i does not respect the deputy president as he called the number two in the country to resign a fortnight ago.
