Recently, Deputy President William Ruto has been hitting the headlines all for the wrong assumptions thanks to the recent defections from his Jubilee side of Tanga tanga.
Many Media houses and sites have come up with the conclusions that Ruto is the one going to suffer the lose without first considering the effect these defections will have on the DP’s detractors.
Take for example Zedekiah Bundotich Kiprop (Buzeki) whose recent pronouncements suggest that in the world of politics he has lost his bearings.
But one newspaper is giving a very positive spin to Buzeki’s hardly intelligible mutterings as he tries to find his bearings. ‘Blow for Ruto as Buzeki jumps ship,’ screams the headline to the report.
The reality is that Buzeki went into politics in 2013 with plenty of experience in business but none in politics.
That he performed credibly at all was largely seen to be through the efforts of DP Ruto. He didn’t lose ‘narrowly’ as the newspaper reports. Jackson Mandago taught him important lessons in politics, even enlisting the opposition NASA coalition to endorse him.
Beyond the support of sections of Jubilee, Buzeki didn’t do much out of his own initiative. And as 2022 looms, those who have a say in the politics of Uasin Gishu are seen to be leaning towards Ambassador Julius Bitok.
Prof Bitok is seen to be in the good books of current governor Jackson Mandago for not contesting against him in 2017, in what would have been a rematch of 2013, when Mandago emerged victorious.
In response to realities on the ground, Buzeki has drifted away, with nothing, just like he came with nothing. The same newspaper gives a ridiculously positive spin to the fruitless begging for loans by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
The front page story of the national edition declares ‘China’s loss is America’s Sweet gain’.
But the story really isn’t about China losing anything. It is about the President desperately hunting for loans elsewhere, jumping off the plane from China and hopping into another one for USA, with his empty begging bowl.
The story is accompanied by a file photo of Uhuru laughing heartily. It is not possible that he can be wearing a smile at the moment after a torrid two weeks.