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 William Ruto: The Stone that was rejected turned Chief Cornerstone!

By Patrick Katagata @KatagataJr

Irish rugby Union player, Dan Sheehan’s famous quote, “Great people build monuments from stones critics throw at them” might be said of Kenya’s former(now) agile Deputy President, William Ruto, after sailing against the turbulent course, to become Kenya’s fifth President! I have deep respect for Former President Uhuru Kenyatta in manifold respects, but not for his open endorsement/campaigning for Mr. Raila Odinga, as his successor. For all his considerations, he underestimated the effect of his choice for Raila, while ditching Ruto, who torched for him light at his darkest, to not only tantamount to betrayal, but also taste foul of Kenyatta’s real agenda—personal, or for a given coterie—vis-à-vis majority Kenyans! He assumed that everyone believed in his leadership and would, therefore, follow his choice. It is bound to be counterproductive!

Deputy President William Ruto (then) receiving his presidential results from the IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati

It should be remembered that following a fierce dispute of the general elections of 2007 the result of which former President, Mwai Kibaki, was declared winner, the infamous 2007-2008 post-election mayhem that blighted Kenya ensued. His main opponent, Raila Odinga’s supporters alleged manipulation, enflamed heinous skirmishes—with thousands of people violently slaughtered; property destroyed; causing socio-economic and political instability. Raila Odinga was [in December 2007] indisputably linked to making local television and radio announcements encouraging supporters’ massive protests—in Mombasa, Eldoret, Kericho, Nakuru, and around Nairobi. The violence was majorly ethnic, targeting Kikuyu to whom Mwai Kibaki belonged, effected by [the] Luo—Raila Odinga’s ethnic group and other sympathizers.

 

Unfortunately, while the country still grappled with the cruel after-effects of the said mayhem, Raila Odinga, rather selfishly and quickly negotiated a Power-sharing deal with Kibaki’s government, whose presidency he had earlier disputed, —becoming Prime Minister, only four months away, while some of his diehard supporters—and many innocent wananchi had perished in the violence, or lost their hard-earned property, and hundreds of thousands of them were encamped in Internally Displaced Camps! I will return to this later.

 

Although acquitted, the International Criminal Court [ICC] had, prior to his ascendency to the presidency, accused outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta of orchestrating [five] crimes against humanity during the aforesaid 2007-2008 post-election violence, and consequently summoned him to the Hague, to answer charges in March 2011. He was co-accused with William Ruto, but the trial slugged on with several postponements. Later, the duo would successfully bid for Kenya’s presidency; Kenyatta was the main contender, and Ruto was his running mate. First forward, trials, finally, kicked off and President Uhuru Kenyatta voluntarily braved the ICC, leaving behind his then Deputy President, William Ruto, to steer the country while he would be away, an assignment the latter executed with utmost faithfulness. One could feel a true sense of comradeship and trust at the helm of Kenya’s top political leadership. Kenya’s immediate terrible political past was momentarily forgotten—and/or ignored so the country could contrive forward easily.

 

I am fairly regular in Kenya, but most importantly, I am a Pan-Africanist; with a keen interest in [East] Africa’s socio-economic and political transformation. I know Kenyans’ general political attitude. Going forward, both Kenyatta and Ruto were cleared of ICC charges while the political clock ticked towards regime change—president Uhuru Kenyatta’s two-term tenure would soon end. Another election would be sought to usher in his successor. It was widely expected that after withering many storms with his running mate and Deputy,  Kenyatta would support William Ruto, to perpetuate their political agenda, but in vain. In an unprecedented twist of events, political cracks soon developed between the erstwhile two political partners. Perhaps, to give credence to the line, “It’s Politics Stupid”, President Kenyatta, instead, favored an already politically-dented presidential hopeful, Raila Odinga. Forget opinion polls—many may be tactfully crafted to set an illusive narrative, to emotionally woo voters, but William Ruto, the rejected stone turned out the Chief Cornerstone!