Referendum: Ruto sets ground to lead the ‘NO’ camp

Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday made it official that he will oppose any attempts to change the Constitution through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) supported by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

The second in command is of the view that there are more fundamental and pressing issues that must be addressed before anyone can think of changing the constitution.

Addressing a group of women at Burhaniya grounds in Mombasa, the DP said that instead of focusing on amending the constitution, the current one should first be implemented to the letter.

“There are a lot of debates in Kenya currently, but if there is one issue that must be of priority and come before all others is matters to do with two-third gender rule which is a constitutional requirement. I dare suggest that before we have any conversation about the constitution let us talk of the gender rule,” he said.

He added that there are important issues which affect more than half of the population, and “if those are not the priority, then I don’t know what is.”

BBI referendum

A tweet by DP’s ally and Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen captured the thinking in his camp.

“If the BBI referendum will mirror the divisive agenda we have witnessed in the Senate, if it shall be reversing the gains on devolution or increasing layers of governance or taking services far from the people, I WILL OPPOSE IT and I am ready to lead the NO Campaigns.”

Dr Ruto, who was accompanied by among other leaders Nyali MP Mohammed Ali, former Senator Hassan Omar and Uasin Gishu Woman rep Gladys Shollei, said he will stand with the less fortunate who are Kenyans and will not allow a debate that is one sided.

“When they come here with their BBI talks, ask them about the two-third gender rule first. We have not implemented this constitution fully,” Mr Ali said.

Mr Omar said it is the responsibility of Kenyans to defend the current constitution and that the BBI is not good for the country.

He said BBI, which is a tool used to drive the referendum agenda, is a plot for succession politics which are only meant to divide the country.

“They want to create positions so that the people can pay for their enclaves. We fought for the current constitution, some of us were expelled from schools and others died because of this constitution,” said Mr Omar.

This is part of the strategy lately adopted by the DP to oppose plans by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga to rally Kenyans into changing the constitution in its tenth anniversary.

Whirlwind tours

Dr Ruto is readying his arsenal to shoot down proposed changes to the constitution when the vote is called in what will likely see a repeat of the 2010 referendum when he owned and led the NO camp.

He kick-started his whirlwind tours of the country beginning with Mombasa this weekend after a long period of confining most of the activities to his Karen residence and Sugoi home since the outbreak of Covid-19.

In his push, he will be counting on the church and the youth vote, a key constituency in his ambition to become the country’s next president.

Already, he has declared that of all the pressing needs of the country, having a new set of laws was none of them in what will likely pit him on hand and those oscillating around his boss, President Kenyatta on the other.

In the strategy, a key rallying call to capture the imagination of the youth will be the question of unemployment and whether a new constitution is the answer to the widespread challenges and other ills bedevilling the country.

In his monthly update on the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Kenyatta said that time was ripe to change the laws to make them more responsive to the needs of the nation.

“Ten years after our progressive constitution, the moment calls us to do better. Instead of a ceasefire document that enforces a zero-sum game in which the winner takes it all, the moment calls us to create a constitutional order that will last long. The moment to improve on it is now,” President Kenyatta said in an address to the nation Wednesday.

For the DP, leading the ‘NO’ camp will be more about testing his presidential campaign machinery than it will about the laws, his strategists say.

They argue that by belonging to the same camp as everybody else, he will be lost in the mix especially given that most other senior politicians will be casting their lot with the President. In the end, brand Ruto will be strengthened less than two years to the General Election, a momentum they hope to ride on to victory when elections are called.

Forceful takeover

By leading the ‘NO’ side, the DP secured his seat at the national table and perhaps without doing so, he may not have earned his place as the Kalenjin kingpin in a forceful takeover from the late President Daniel Moi and subsequently be Mr Kenyatta’s running mate in the 2013 and the subsequent elections.

On Saturday, the chairman of the Building Bridges Task force Yusuf Haji said that the President and his ‘handshake brother’ Mr Odinga will decide when the country goes to a referendum.

And so as not to antagonise Mr Kenyatta’s central Kenya constituency that he hopes to inherit, the messaging will be such that the push to change the laws is branded as a Raila project. The idea is to make it appear like a personal desire by Mr Odinga, the ODM leader, to amend the laws of the land with the hope of creating a position for himself in government come the next election.

“It’s not possible that we politic during elections and continue with the same at the time we should be working hard to improve lives of residents. We will not entertain politics of creating positions for a few individuals at the expense of delivering services and empowering Kenyans. Those propagating this are power-hungry and selfish,” the DP is on the record as saying.

His isolation in government since early 2018 when the President and his nemesis Mr Odinga agreed on a political truce will also come in handy, his handlers believe.

Some observers say the DP cannot be asked to carry the burden, the curse of the incumbency, in his journey to State House as he’ll without a struggle explain it away that he was relegated to the periphery and thus it would be unfair to ask him to carry the cross of Mr Kenyatta’s administration.

The DP also fired back to his critics in Jubilee who have asked him to quit the party.

 Speaking when he met Muslim faithful, Dr Ruto said those who are opposed to his candidature are the ones who are supposed to leave the party.

He said since the “forces” have decided that he will not be the party flag-bearer in 2022, they should then go to Orange House where their chosen candidate is.

 “Those of you who are in Jubilee headquarters and have decided that your candidate is in Orange House, I want to ask you, what are you doing at Jubilee, why don’t you go to Orange House because that is where you candidate? ” he posed.

Whether his side wins or loses, Mr Kenyatta’s allies say that by coming out to oppose his boss, the DP must be ready to quit government immediately after or before the official campaigns begin.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has warned that a review of the constitution will not guarantee peace unless all leaders commit to ensure political realignments do not become an excuse for putting the country to the risk of election violence.

Creating fear

“The ongoing political realignments are normal in a democracy, but the manner in which they are currently done is risky, insensitive and is creating fear among Kenyans as the country moves towards 2022 elections,” Kisumu Bishop Philip Anyolo said on behalf of other bishops during the consecration of the head the Kitui Diocese Bishop Joseph Maluki Mwongela at St Charles Lwanga High School on Saturday.

The ceremony was presided over by Cardinal John Njue and Pope’s representative to Kenya Archbishop Hubertas Van Megen.

“Any proposal for amendments of the constitution should be acceptable only when it has clear long term goals. Any self-serving short-term proposals having the interests of just a few privileged and highly placed individuals must be rejected,” Mr Anyolo added.

The ceremony, which had been postponed twice over Covid-19 fears, was attended by Ukambani leaders including governors Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) and several local MPs.

Devolution Cabinet secretary Eugene Wamalwa delivered President Uhuru Kenyatta’s message but other than the three governors, no other leader was allowed to address the function.

Additional reporting by Kitavi Mutua. [email protected], [email protected]