Ruto’s game of silence with his allies threatening to explode

 

Deputy President William Ruto is walking a tight political rope, torn between assuaging his supporters’ anger over his apparently declining fortunes and maintaining loyalty to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Ruto’s supporters, including elected leaders, are simmering with rage over what they believe is a move by people close to State House to isolate the DP and cut him down to size.

But the DP is said to believe this strategy would fuel the inferno gutting Jubilee and prematurely end the political marriage with Uhuru, three and half years to the polls.

Ruto thus has remained tight-lipped about his political tribulations, putting on a brave face and dismissing any claims that he has been sidelined as street talk.

In his characteristic style, the DP yesterday played down the succession intrigues that hit fever pitch last week, following the elevation of Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.

“We are past the elections period,” Ruto said yesterday during a church service in Ngong’, Kajiado county.

“This is not the time to talk about the politics of succession but the time to serve Kenyans. We have a country that we must ensure goes places,” he said.

The DP said Kenyans need not to be anxious about political events and urged leaders to shun politics of ethnicity. They should adopt politics founded on development, he added.

“My advice to him is to quit government and begin hitting at Uhuru as a betrayer. Tell the Kikuyus that this is not how to live with other Kenyans. He can also look for other people who have been betrayed before, like Kalonzo, and work with them,” he suggests.

Ruto has cut down on his political activities and countrywide travels since the President reportedly read him the riot act on January 14, a day before the attack on the Dusit Hotel.

Cabinet Secretaries have also been asked to stop attending official functions at DP Ruto’s Karen home; instead, all development meetings will be held at Harambee House.

Interviews with various politicians from the Rift Valley captured growing discontent fuelled by a feeling that the DP is being isolated before he is finally elbowed out.

Some of the DP’s hitherto most vocal allies have ducked and maintained a studious silence, as part of the wider Ruto game plan.

The DP hosted his inner circle at a strategy meeting last Thursday. They included National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, General Assembly Chief Whip Benjamin Washiali and Nandi Governor Stephen Sang. The details remain unclear.

Yesterday Duale, Murkomen and Washiali — the DP’s most trusted and loyal lieutenants — declined to comment on their boss’s current political turmoil.

Yesterday, political analyst Mark Bichachi said the DP is walking a tightrope in diffusing the negative perception among his allies and supporters who hold the view that he is being pushed out of government.

Bichachi said while in reality and according to the Constitution, Ruto is Deputy President with sweeping powers, practically there is a perception that he has lost considerable ground in government.

“The biggest issue is perception. He [Ruto] is perceived to believe that in every passing day there is something that happens that puts him aside,” Bichachi said.

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