Beware of rats fleeing sinking ship

Deputy President William Ruto’s #HustlerNation is on a roll. Victory by his ‘independent’ candidate in the December 15 Msambweni Parliamentary by-election over a rival backed by the alliance of President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga emboldened the DP to more firmly signal his impending exit from the governing Jubilee Party.

And just before the year turned, the DP’s vehicle for his 2022 presidential bid was revealed when the little-known Party for Development and Reform officially changed its name to the United Democratic Alliance, and adopted the wheelbarrow as its symbol.

The inference was clear. The wheelbarrow has already become a powerful symbol of the Ruto insurrection, which exploits underclass resentment against the privileged political dynasties supposedly represented by the Kenyattas and Odingas and others in their orbit such as Kanu leader Senator Gideon Moi.

The Deputy President’s appearance at the New Year eve victory party for the new Msambweni MP Feisal Bader provided further testimony that divorce from President Kenyatta was irreversible.

In typical fashion, the DP did not state anything explicit on his true intentions, but sat back purring contentedly as his minions delivered scathing broadsides at the President and the Jubilee administration.

Political parlance

The Msambweni gathering was not just the ordinary ‘homecoming’ — to employ local political parlance — soirée for some potentate acquiring high office, but a show of might for the DP. It was attended by a large number of Members of Parliament and governors flown in from across the country.

It was also an occasion to display prize catches in politicians who had hitherto been sitting on the fence or defecting from the Uhuru-Raila axis.

One who got much airplay on shifting sides was Nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura, who has been an ardent member of President Kenyatta’s Kieleweke side of the Jubilee divide and vocal advocate of Uhuru-Raila ‘handshake’ and the impending Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitutional referendum.

Mr Mwaura’s oratory was in full display at Msambweni, where without as much as batting an eyelid, he repudiated everything he has claimed to stand for, tearing directly into President Kenyatta, and excoriating the Jubilee regime for failed economic policies.

Unapologetic turnaround

The unapologetic turnaround by the senator excited the Tangatanga base of the DP, whose propaganda army was swift to spread media clips of the address on social media. Mr Mwaura candidly admitted later that ditching President Kenyatta for DP Ruto was dictated by the imperative for political survival.

He had read the signs and concluded that come the referendum slated for mid-year and the 2022 elections, the DP had the upper hand in the President’s central Kenya bastions.

It’s the same consideration that over the weekend prompted Senate Majority Chief Whip Irungu Kang’ata to pen a remarkable missive to President Kenyatta warning that the BBI referendum was set for humiliating defeat in central Kenyatta.

The Murang’a County Senator has been a key advocate in the region for BBI and the Uhuru-Raila political accommodation.

He too has read the tea leaves. Though he did not threaten to decamp, he offered only lame prescriptions on how BBI can be more effectively sold and chances are that the writing may be on the wall.

These are not voices President Kenyatta can ignore. It’s most likely that despite his public statements, he knows in his heart that BBI is a hard sell. He also recognises that marketing Mr Odinga in central Kenya is a ‘Mission Impossible’.

While Mr Kenyatta ponders how to right a listing vessel, Dr Ruto need not celebrate his apparent gains too much. He would be foolish not to see that many of those running to his side are no more worthwhile than rats fleeing a sinking ship, and a Jubilee plague they helped create in the first place. Characters like Mr Mwaura are serial defectors, who in just a few years, have hoped from the arms of one senior politician to another, depending on who is on the ascendancy.

The DP may hold out a welcoming embrace, but ought to be cautious of fellows who will be ready to jump ship the moment a more enticing offer comes along.

As for those Jubilee politicians suddenly becoming fierce critics of the government, the big question for us all is whether they are part of the problem or part of the solution. The simple message must be ‘put your money where your mouth is’.

Courage of conviction must lie in quitting Jubilee and any elective or appointive office, and freeing oneself to fight the regime from the outside. Anything else is crass opportunism and hypocrisy.

[email protected] www.gaitho.co.ke @MachariaGaitho