President William Ruto shares light moments with Kasmuel McOure during the opening of a new church sanctuary at AIC Kipkorgot in Uasin Gishu County on December 22, 2024.
Kasmuel McOure earned all-around admiration as the face and voice of the Gen Z revolt that almost brought President William Ruto’s regime to its knees last June.
He was eloquent, cocky and confident, whether in front of studio TV cameras or working up crowds in street protests. He stood out in his snazzy suits and well-groomed afro in sharp contrast to the normal uniform of jeans, T-shirts, sneakers and generally scruffy look of other demonstrators. He also displayed neat sidesteps and hurdling techniques while fleeing police squads.
His conversion from the “Ruto must go” crowd to a supporter of the Kenya Kwanza regime provides an apt illustration of how the “Leaderless, Tribeless, Partyless” Gen Z movement has been scattered since the President moved to save his skin by cutting a deal with opposition chief Raila Odinga.
As a youth league leader in Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement, Kasmuel, to use the familiar moniker, of course has an obligation to toe the party line.
But that need not mean creating phantom enemies as so many around Mr Odinga are doing.
Kasmuel McOure speaks at Bukiri Primary School, Funyula, Busia County, on February 28, 2025, as the Orange Democratic Movement celebrated 20 years in Kenya's political landscape.
The opposition chief turned co-principal without portfolio in the Kenya Kwanza regime is the real Master of the Deal. Over the past 25 years, he has effortlessly managed to cross over from the opposition to government, and yet remain the unchallenged symbol of opposition and protest politics.
Betrayal
No one can begrudge his need to negotiate himself a seat at the feeding trough. Those accusing him of betrayal are hypocrites who would do exactly the same presented half a chance. They were in government anyway during the protests.
However, the rationale being provided for Mr Odinga cosying up to President Ruto is itself equally hypocritical.
The other day Kasmuel echoed the now common argument that he would back President Ruto in preference to impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua; and by extension the Mt Kenya community.
The ousted DP now projects the most active and potent threat to President Ruto’s 2027 re-election prospects. He has seized control of the Mt Kenya vote that backed Ruto almost to a man in 2022, but has deserted in numbers since the impeachment last year.
Mt Kenya bashing has become an obsession with some of Mr Odinga’s supporters, who are even more vocal than President Ruto’s Rift Valley support base in demonising the populous region.
Alliance-building around ethnic and regional formations is the nature of our politics, so nothing really strange there. What is not being said is that the more the entire Mt Kenya community is depicted as an enemy to be shunned and isolated, the more President Ruto becomes hostage to Mr Odinga.
Then there is the lie that all legitimate questions asked of the regime, starting from the Gen Z revolt and underlying issues around governance, abductions, the contentious universal health and affordable housing schemes, runaway corruption, ad infinitum, come just from a disgruntled Mt Kenya region.
The questions asked are universal and are on issues affecting all of Kenya. They will not go away despite all the ethnic-profiling propaganda.
Continuing “Ruto must go” chants in Kisii, Isiolo, Kajiado, Nairobi, Bungoma, Mombasa and everywhere else has nothing to do with Mr Gachagua or Mt Kenya.
The former DP, on ejection from the high table, merely latched onto prevailing discontent and will exploit it just like anybody else would.
What this government—and mouthpieces who typify the hired mourners who cry more than the bereaved—needs to do is fix its own mess rather than look for scapegoats or whip up dangerous ethnic hatred.
Of course, Mr Gachagua himself remains a polarising and divisive figure. This column was the first to call him out—during the period he strutted the corridors of power with his bullying ways—as a DP who had reduced himself to the DP for Mt Kenya rather than the Republic. He still has his own unhelpful obsession with Mt Kenya entitlement that only fires up foes to his brand of politics.
Incidentally, Kasmuel was in the ODM youth league when he led the Gen Z protests. One might thus ask whether he was working for Mr Odinga, the eventual beneficiary, or Mr Gachagua, the main casualty.
And as for betrayal, the only ones who have a right to cry foul are the Gen Z of every persuasion who were mowed down with gunfire, abducted and tortured so that Mr Odinga could take his place at the table.
Then there are the remaining leaders in the opposition Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition left stranded when Mr Odinga crossed over, and are now leaderless and flailing around like headless chicken.
[email protected]; @MachariaGaitho
