Deputy president William Ruto bulldozed his own way into Kisii County despite the hostile reception. Whereas the number two in Kenya has all political clout to do as he wish, one thing that he cannot do is force the Kisii people to actually vote for him in 2022 presidential election. People even question the purpose of the rally when he has already been shown that people in Kisii do not have high regards for him.
But the deputy president’s woes among the Abagusii community will even get worse. Last week, Dr. Fred Matiang’i declared that he will run for the position of president in the 2022 presidential elections. William Ruto is aiming for the same top seat in the country in 2022. One can say that Ruto’s decision to visit Kisii was an attempt to extinguish the momentum Fred Matiang’i got last week when he declared that he will be on the ballot for president come 2022.
It goes without saying that when push comes to shove, the Abagusii community in both Nyamira and Kisii Counties will overwhelmingly support Fred Matiangi for the presidency instead of Mr. Ruto. This is because when it comes to political office, most people will vote along tribal lines unless they do not have a credible candidate from their own community.
But Matiang’i is equally qualified when compared to the deputy president. In fact, most political pundits think CS Matiang’i is currently playing the role of the deputy president after president Uhuru Kenyatta appointed the Interior Ministry Cabinet Secretary into a Super CS role. Dr. Matiang’i has been conspicuously flanking the president in key projects across the country including Covid-19 press conferences while the deputy president has been relegated to church functions on Sundays.
There is no secret that the relationship between president Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy has gone south. The only thing is that both of these politicians have avoided attacking each other openly in public. Whereas the president is fully committed to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and holding the referendum needed to change the constitution, the deputy president has actively undermined this project.
William Ruto is against BBI and has even termed it a “political conmanship”.
But opposition to BBI is not the only areas where William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta disagree. William Ruto has criticized the Jubilee Government several times including the most recent occasion where the ruling Jubilee government illegally arrested Samburu, Kakamega and Bomet counties senators who were at the verge of voting in opposition to the One Man One Vote One Shilling county revenue sharing formula.
Fred Matiangi being the one tasked with Internal Security took William Ruto’s criticism of the government very personally. The CS even asked Ruto to resign and officially join the opposition. Most people actually think the reason why Mr. Matiang’i wants to run for the presidency in 2022 is so as to deny William Ruto the numbers in both of the Kisii and Nyamira counties.
Mr. Matiang’i is just trying to sabotage William Ruto’s chances of clinging the top seat in the country and chances are that Uhuru Kenyatta and his cartels may be behind this. It reminds me of Kanye West and Donald Trump in the current 2020 U.S. presidential campaigns. The Republican Party encouraged Kanye West to run for the presidency so as to siphon off the votes among Black people who are more likely to vote for Joe Biden and his democratic party.
The rationale is that by having Kanye West who is black running, the vote that could have gone to Joe Biden will be diverted to a candidate that does not present a threat to Mr. Donald Trump. The latter is very sure of his own unpopularity among black Americans. So the best strategy is to sabotage his opponent’s chances of winning.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has ensured that Ruto’s influence in Rift Valley is completely diminished. The president has been aggressive in his attempt to isolate his deputy that is hell bent in outshining him. In the former Rift Valley province, Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed two influential politicians into Jubilee government jobs: Baringo Senator Gideon Moi and the former Bomet Governor Mr. Isaac Ruto.
So William Ruto will not only worry about the Kisii and Nyamira counties that do not want him but also neighboring Bomet and Baringo counties that are pro-Uhuru Kenyatta and his BBI bandwagon.
If you watched the video, you will see that William Ruto addressed the issue of politicians bribing the youth to engage in violence during elections. But one thing the Kisii people know is that they have been oppressed in Rift Valley by having their houses and businesses burnt down. All this has in most cases been blamed on William Ruto. Without Uhuru Kenyatta on the ticket, very unlikely that the Kisii people will vote for William Ruto.
Here is the video. Watch…
