Deputy President William Ruto is today easily the most talked about politician in the country, be they positive or negative sentiments — a title held for long by Mr Raila Odinga who in March agreed on a truce with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Ruto’s 2022 Presidential bid faces a number of hurdles that the DP will have to go through if he is to ever become the Commander in Chief.
Ruto’s has been accused of inflicting pain on himself trough various political blunders ever since he became DP in 2013.
Former Cabinet minister Prof Amukowa Anangwe says the DP is in a most difficult political situation, which he opines is of his own making “through blatant political blunders he has made since becoming the DP in 2013 by burning bridges and stepping on virtually everyone’s toes”.
“He also has some serious image problems and widespread perception that he is corrupt that is likely to weigh him down adversely with the Kenyan electorate at large. Hence, getting elected as president in 2022 is going to be an uphill task for Ruto,” says Prof Anangwe’
Indeed, the DP has not only been associated with previous and present scandals but has actually been arraigned in court over some of the cases. Barely a month old in office, for instance, Ruto got entangled in the so-called hustler’s jet scandal.
The House’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) established that Sh18.9 million was spent on his official trip to the trip to four African countries between May 16 and 19, 2013.
However, it was unable to establish the origin of invoices that showed the Office of the Deputy President paid Sh100 million.
The DP has also faced, directly or through companies associated with him several land court cases including the highly publicised ones on Nairobi’s Processional Way, the Weston Hotel land, and 100 acres of land in the Rift Valley belonging to Adrian Muteshi. Ruto however withdrew his appeal against a High Court decision requiring him to pay Mr. Muteshi Sh5 million for illegally taking away his land.
As Agriculture minister in the Narc government of 2007-2013, Ruto similarly faced graft allegations over a maize scandal. And last week three Rift Valley MPs, Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Joshua Kuttuny (Cherangany) and Silas Tiren (Moiben) accused the DP’s office of being behind the cartels frustrating maize farmers in the Rift Valley.
These, and many more, are fights the DP and his backers have to engage in almost daily.
According to Mr Cheruiyot, this is the work of Ruto’s detractors who want portray the DP as losing ground in Rift Valley and whose political masters will be made known soon.
For Ruto’s allies, he is simply being targeted because he is mtoto wa masikini (son of peasant), who has made in life from selling chicken by the roadside to a billionaire without the backing of a “dynasty”.
One the things that keeps Ruto going, according to allies, is that he never allows criticisms or negative innuendos to weigh him down.
Do you think Ruto can withstand the political stand coming his way?