RUTO WEEPS IN A CORNER

The Deputy President cuts a forlorn figure nowadays. When he takes the mic you can hear the strain in his once timbre voice, the tired sad eyes make you sympathetic and the laced anger in his statements towards political opponents makes you wonder if he will hold on for the next seventeen months.

It is now apparent that Ruto is an isolated man. All the trappings of power are gone. What stresses him most is that his political friends are decamping one by one. Even the guy he dared fantasize with, the guy he wore matching clothes with, the guy they made a pinkie swear with is also gone. At the time Challyh News went on print, the friend was on a publicized tour to his motherland explaining why he had to divorce his long time political friend.

One mistake DP Ruto did was to put all his hopes in one basket. Apparently they won the last two elections by being voted almost exclusively by two regions. What someone did not tell Ruto is that there were other factors in play. For example, in 2013 they were being supported by three first families – Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki. In 2017, they were in power. They organized the elections. Museveni allegedly once asked, ‘how can you lose elections which you have organized?’

Ruto only concentrated on Rift Valley and Mt Kenya. He thought they were enough to catapult him to the highest office in land. With Mt Kenya slipping away, Ruto might go on to get pitiful votes like other vice presidents before him – Musalia Mudavadi and Kalonzo Musyoka.

Ruto has associated himself with popular politicians but of questionable character. Ferdinand Waititu, Mike Sonko, Moses Kuria and Aisha Jumwa have all supported Ruto at one point in time. The choice of friends and people who would form his government in 2022 scares many. Waititu is on record trying to cause ethnic divisions in Nairobi when he was a member of parliament. Mike Sonko has been impeached for abuse of office. Moses Kuria once sensationally said that police should shoot to kill in Kisumu while his friend Nyoro begged Uhuru to become a dictator and do away with the Kenyan constitution. Aisha Jumwa is facing murder charges. It is a group of friends that scares Kenyans.

Despite all his political miscalculations and corruption allegations, Ruto had a fair shot towards the presidency as long as Uhuru stayed by his side. With Uhuru supporting him, he was guaranteed Central and Upper Eastern votes as well as the power to organize 2022 elections,. There were theories earlier that the handshake was a sham. That Uhuru and Ruto were playing Raila. With the character assassination going on in Sagana, the theory seems far fetched and laughable.

There was some excitement from Ruto supporters when some 41 legislators from the mountain wrote to Uhuru a jilted lover’s letter. 41 legislators doesn’t even constitute majority of Mt Kenya legislators and it is easy to neuter them. Uhuru only needs to bring their leader to the fold and the rest will follow. The fact that they wrote to Uhuru means they respect him and they would be willing for a compromise.

BBI was seen as a litmus test for 2022 but it is no longer the case. Apart from Rift Valley, BBI will pass easily in almost every other region. A multiple question referendum which oddly was suggested by Ruto will mean there’s no winner in the popular vote. The only person holding Ruto’s hopes now is the digital genius Itumbi. He has taken something rudimentary as a wheelbarrow and turned it into national conversation. If Itumbi was to leave Hustler Nation, Ruto would capitulate even before 2022.

Ruto has done remarkably well as a politician, but to imagine he can take head on Uhuru and Raila and win is a stretch bordering into fantasy

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