Why 70% of Kenyans online believe William Ruto should be Kenya’s next president

by Odipo Riaga · August 16, 2019

Almost immediately after the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his rival in the 2017 Presidential Election Raila Odinga, it became clear that neither Uhuru’s Deputy William Ruto nor Raila’s co-principals in NASA Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka, and Moses Wetangula were part of the handshake pact. Actually the utterances of Deputy President and the co-principals indicated that they were completely unaware of the developments that led to the handshake. It didn’t take months before the political atmosphere shaped such that the NASA co-principals had no option but to join the handshake, but for the Deputy President to find himself alone in the rival camp. These developments recently culminated in what political commentators have described as a Dynasty Super Alliance forged against William Ruto, with the sole purpose of ensuring William Ruto never sets foot in State House as Kenya’s fifth president.

Prior events that have been suggestive of the push to bar William Ruto from ascending to State House have included labeling William Ruto as the most corrupt politician, a politician not keen to support President Kenyatta achieve his big four agenda, someone who is already on the campaign trail long before 2022 political season, and a politician who is bribing his way to heaven by donating millions to churches every Sunday. Other political maneuvers that have been interpreted to be part of the agenda of blocking William Ruto from becoming Kenya’s fifth President include attempts to impeach him, fight against corruption that have targeted his allies such as Governor Waititu and former CS Treasury Henry Rotich, and general state frustrations on those who support William Ruto.

The events following the handshake thus made Ruto become the news maker in the larger part of 2018 and 2019, overtaking Raila Odinga. The hatred and love thus shown to William Ruto have made many to relate with him, with majority interpreting the political events as a move by the country’s dynasties (Jomo Kenyatta’s, Daniel Moi’s and Oginga Odinga’s families) to prevent a peasant from ascending to the helm of power. As a consequence, William Ruto has been able to gain a lot of sympathy supporters, not only from his backward in Rift Valley, but across the country except Luo Nyanza. Regions such as Western, Central, and Coast have had a number of politicians lend support to William Ruto’s presidential ambitions, and if the online poll that gave William Ruto a favorable rating of 69% is to go by, then we can conclude that Ruto’s support in urban areas namely Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa and the other cosmopolitan towns is reaching the roof.

These facts show clearly that the negative propaganda orchestrated against the deputy president is not working. If the state and dynasties are actually hellbent to ensure that Deputy President never becomes Kenya’s fifth president, then their approach needs to shift drastically. I have no idea how they could block him from ascending to power, but probably taking advantage of article 6 of the constitution can come in handy. The only way to take advantage of that article is to ensure that William Ruto is arraigned in court on some allegations like corruption (after all they have tainted him as the most corrupt politician), and ensure he is found guilty. The guilty verdict must then sentence him to several years of imprisonment, otherwise Dr. Hon. William Samoei Ruto will be Kenya’s fifth president, whether the dynasties like it or not.