How Ruto boxed Uhuru into a tight corner

Deputy President William Ruto is increasingly pushing his boss President Kenyatta into a political corner with a slew of moves that are putting the Head of State in a quandary and making governance in the ruling Jubilee government a delicate balancing act.

From infiltrating the upcoming Jubilee delegates’ conference to open rebellion and orchestrating a string of defections from Mt Kenya, as well as putting Cabinet Secretaries in a loyalty dilemma, Dr Ruto seems to have put the President on the back foot.

Observers are divided on why the Deputy President is putting his own government in a fix so effortlessly; some argue that, as a technically absentee senior government officer, he has all the time and resources to move around and mobilise loyalty, while other say the chaos are as a result of Dr Ruto’s political genius.

The latest source of friction is the planned Jubilee National Delegates Conference (NDC) that was scheduled for November 30 but has been postponed to a yet-to-be-determined date next year. Dr Ruto, the Sunday Nation was told this week, might have had a hand in the postponement of the NDC after claims emerged that his sympathisers in the ruling coalition had made it to the roll and could hijack the day’s agenda.

It is believed that several directors in Jubilee who had been sacked introduced the unwanted delegates to sabotage the process as a way of hitting back at the leadership they accuse of reneging on a promise in 2017 that they would not lose their jobs. Insiders say the postponement was to allow officials enough time to weed out the unwanted delegates.

Full resolutions

Unconfirmed reports suggested that the National Intelligence Service had warned of plans to either boo the President in case he attended, or generally make the event ungovernable before the full resolutions could be read out.

Since he has already settled for the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) as his party of choice in the next General Elections, Dr Ruto is said to have moved on from Jubilee and generally the government, but not without staging a fight. His handlers say while he would not want to “waste his energy on spilt milk”, he would not mind seeing the death of Jubilee, the party on whose ticket he had initially hoped to run for president.

Read: Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto fight to control Mt Kenya region

Dr Ruto’s absence from official government duty is said to be what forced President Kenyatta to issue Executive Order No 1 of 2019, which moved coordination of governance and administration away from the office of the Deputy President to that of Dr Fred Matiang’i’s Interior ministry.

Whether the DP’s absence from official duty has created any vacuum in the running of government is hard to tell, but President Kenyatta appears to be least bothered by it. In the last three months, the President has been out of the country at least five times, with visits to Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Scotland, France and the US.

Sources told the Sunday Nation that, on all occasions, Dr Matiang’i, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, National Intelligence Services director Maj Gen Phillip Kameru, and Chief of Defence Forces Gen Robert Kibochi ran the country when the President was away.

In recent days other government agencies appear to have usurped the functions of the office of the Deputy President. These include Dr Matiang’i’s express coordination of national projects, and Mr Kinyua’s handling of all government administrative matters.

Infrastructural projects

Dr Ruto has not attended any Cabinet meetings in the recent past and has missed from national security committee meetings. Government sources said he was not involved in more than 70 per cent of policy decisions by the current administration between 2018 and 2021, including major infrastructural projects.

Also, DP Ruto has become what observers call “the new opposition chief”, even though he remains, legally, the president’s principal assistant. He has not skipped an opportunity to remind the president how embracing Mr Odinga through the Handshake was a bad idea that ended up derailing his government’s agenda.

Yet when advancing his State House ambition, he lists achievements of the same administration, in what at some point saw the President accuse him of “milking with his Napier grass”. Hitting out at the Deputy President only makes him more popular while leaving him unhinged does the same.

Soy MP Caleb Kositany admitted that Dr Ruto and his supporters have decided to focus on branding UDA, saying that they are no longer interested in the affairs of the ruling coalition.

“Our mind is made and focused already; that come 2022 we will use UDA tickets. We are done with Jubilee. At the moment we are on the ground putting things in order for UDA,” he said. His sentiments are likely to buttress the perception that Dr Ruto is no longer interested in dispensing his official duties, and that the political season has shifted his loyalties.

This, though, is not the first time Dr Ruto is giving President Kenyatta a run for his money since their acrimonious fallout in 2018. For a long time, until Mr Kenyatta’s foot soldiers and ODM chief Raila Odinga started their forays into the Mountain to checkmate him, it was a foregone conclusion that the region was Dr Ruto’s to lose.

“Someone comes to our region where our leader is still alive and in power, and he calls himself kingpin of Mt Kenya. What kind of disrespect is that?” posed Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni, an ally of Mr Kenyatta.

In January Mr Kenyatta hosted various groups from central to reclaim the Mountain, even though State House referred to the meetings as meant to advance development. 

Dr Ruto was not amused.  “I am welcoming them to the Mountain, but as they come let them know that the Mountain has its owner. When they were away I made several tours to the region. We built roads and initiated other development projects,” he said when he visited Laikipia later on.

Jubilee NDC

In order to change this trajectory, Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege, another Uhuru ally, says the President has to hit the ground now to prevent the current split from worsening ahead of next year’s polls.

“It is a good idea for the President to come and emphasise the unity of the Mountain as he opens up the new projects and meets opinion leaders,” she told the Sunday Nation.

This week it also emerged that the postponement of the Jubilee NDC was also designed to avoid tension during Jamhuri Day celebrations next week. Since the NDC would have officially kicked out Dr Ruto from the deputy party leader slot, a section of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s handlers felt that it would be awkward to sack the second-in-command from the party position then days later have him invite the Head of State to address the nation at the Jamhuri fete.

“Forget about those telling you about a busy diary of the President as the reason for the change of date. It’s a spin,” a highly placed source, who would not contradict the official party position on record, said.

It was therefore agreed that the meeting will take place in January since the only other national holiday will be on Madaraka Day, on June 1, 2022 — at the height of the political campaigns, and when the president’s handlers would have no problem should the DP choose to skip the event.

Allies of President Kenyatta, however, maintain that the postponement of the NDC was due to the conflicting schedules of the Head of State. Jubilee’s deputy secretary-general Joshua Kutuny, who is also the Cherang’any MP, told the Sunday Nation that despite the NDC being rescheduled, plans are still underway to have it held in the coming days.

Loyal individuals

The convener of the Mt Kenya Focus Group, Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, disclosed that the NDC will take place immediately after lawmakers break for recess. Kieni MP Kanini Kega said the meeting will give them an opportunity to clear the party register and bring on board individuals who will be loyal to the party.

Apart from dealing with the DP and his allies, who have switched allegiance to UDA, the convention is also expected to ratify a coalition deal with ODM.

However, Keiyo South MP Daniel Rono, a staunch ally of the DP, dismissed claims the NDC was put off because the DP had planted his people among the delegates to jeopardise President Kenyatta’s agenda, saying the organisers “were ashamed of the numbers they would have” during the convention.

“For what reason would Ruto plant his people? They do not want to come to terms with the fact that they do not have the numbers,” said Mr Rono.

Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, another ally, said if the leadership of Jubilee is honest, it should start by disciplining Kieleweke MPs who are campaigning for ODM leader Raila Odinga’s presidency when the two parties have no working agreement.

“I am a stellar supporter of the rule of law. If Jubilee is serious, let all those Kieleweke MPs face the party’s disciplinary committee for associating with ODM. Why do they want to punish us for building UDA, which is a sister to Jubilee, unlike ODM?” posed Mr Barasa.

Additional reporting by Silas Apollo.