President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga in Uganda in February.
They do not mean what they say and they do not say what they mean is a phrase that aptly captures the Kenyan political class.
And this has never been better depicted than what followed the nomination of four top ODM party officials by President William Ruto to the Cabinet this week.
President Ruto, opposition leader Raila Odinga and their top allies appear to have made a U-turn on some of the public declarations they made in the run-up to the 2022 General Election and as late as this year, when they vowed in absolute terms never to close ranks.
By incorporating Mr Odinga’s allies in his Kenya Kwanza administration, President Ruto has literally formed “a mongrel of a government system” that he blamed for the failure of former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party to deliver on its development agenda.
Also, by accepting their nomination to the Cabinet, ODM national chairman John Mbadi, nominee for National Treasury and Economic Planning, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum), Hassan Joho (Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs) and Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development) seem to have abandoned their strong opposition to Dr Ruto’s administration.
At the height of his falling-out with Mr Kenyatta and in the run-up to the last poll, President Ruto sustained a narrative that it was because of the March 8, 2018 handshake between the former President and Mr Odinga that Jubilee was unable to deliver on its agenda in its second term.
He took the narrative to an internal platform when, during his Chatham House address in London in March 2022, he described the Jubilee administration as “a mongrel”.
“Today in Kenya, we have a mongrel of a government system. You don’t know whether it is the government that is in opposition or the opposition is the one that is in government. The leader of the opposition is a project of the system and the deep state of the government.
“Unfortunately, the leader of what is supposed to be the ruling party is actually a squatter or a refugee in the opposition party. If we had built our engagements around political parties we wouldn’t have ended up in the situation we are in today where we have opposition members chairing government committees,” said then Deputy President Ruto.
President William Ruto at the Masinde Muliro Stadium on Madaraka Day of 2024.
Further, at the height of the anti-government protests by the opposition last year, President Ruto declared he would not be blackmailed into a handshake (which translates to a political deal) by the opposition.
“These protests are not in public interest but intended to advance selfish business interests. I want to tell them to forget about the handshake, and don’t tell us you do not want a handshake. We know you and we can see you,” Dr Ruto said on January 24, 2023.
President Ruto’s dissolution of his Cabinet and the subsequent formation of a “broad-based” government was in response to the youth-led nationwide protests.
He has, however, defended himself, reiterating that his move is intended to unite the country and to spur development.
“I have decided that we form a government that will unify all of us so that every Kenyan will now play a part in building the nation. From now onwards, we will all seek ways of raising revenue together and paying our debts. Nobody will be left behind,” he said.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Friday described politics “as an art of the possible, not a battleground of absolutes”.
“At the end of the day, the end justifies what we want to do. All these things we want require political stability that needs bringing everyone on board,” said Mr Sakaja.
UDA Secretary-General Cleophas Malala also defended the change of tune, saying that the current dynamics are different from those of the 2018 handshake.
“We have made the decision because of the emerging issues. People raised governance issues, and it is only fair that everyone is brought on board to help steer the country forward,” said Mr Malala.
Same narrative
It is the same U-turn for Mr Odinga, who has in the past cited ideological differences with Dr Ruto. Last year, Mr Odinga sought to expel some ODM lawmakers for declaring allegiance to President Ruto.
“Stop buying members of Parliament as if they’re sheep. If you want many leaders on your side, let them resign and return to the people to be elected and if they win, so be it,” Mr Odinga said on March 29, 2023.
“Stop breaking parties so that you have the majority representation in Parliament. Azimio (la Umoja One Kenya) got 172 seats and Kenya Kwanza got 165 and we won. Now he has bought our leaders saying that they have the majority leaders in the House,” he added.
Kisumu Senator Tom Ojienda, MPs Gideon Ochanda (Bondo), Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Mark Nyamita (Uriri) and Caroli Omondi (Suba South) are some of the rebel MPs ODM sought to expel for working with the President.
But when Dr Ruto nominated his four party officials to join the Cabinet, Mr Odinga “extended his best wishes to the nominees and trust that they will contribute positively to national development ...”
From left clockwise: Wycliffe Oparanya, Opiyo Wandayi, Hassan Joho and John Mbadi. Debate about who shall be able to take over the party leader’s position from Raila is causing jostling.
Mr Odinga had also vowed at the height of the opposition-led protests that he was not interested in a political deal with the President.
“They are saying that we love demonstrations and that we want a handshake. I am saying here today, I don’t want anything to do with a handshake,” Mr Odinga said during a rally at Kamkunji grounds.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has also been forced to switch from his earlier hardline stance against any political deal with Mr Odinga.
“Those people should leave me alone. I am not a hardliner; I am just saying what my bosses want. My people do not want a handshake, or do you? Even if he (Raila) goes to the streets, rioting hoping the President will invite him for a handshake deal, that will not happen. I will be roaming in the State House compound so that when this mzee tries to sneak in through the back door he finds me there,” he said at the height of the opposition protests last year.
On Friday, while in Nanyuki, Laikipia County, Mr Gachagua appeared to back the deal between Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga. He said the “broad-based” government would improve efficiency and service delivery.
“I have seen many people and all sorts of analysis on who won and who lost, but the whole thing is a win for the people of Kenya. There are even more idiots who tried to take advantage of the whole scenario to settle political scores with those they do not support and are trying to apportion blame,” said Mr Gachagua.
Mr Oparanya—who will be sitting in President Ruto’s Cabinet if approved by Parliament—had in the run-up to the last poll said he would rather be a farmer than work with President Ruto.
“I have never even thought of it and I have never imagined that I can join the Kenya Kwanza Alliance. You know those people have a different ideology to what we stand for. If I was to join them and that is the only option, then I would rather retire and go home and become a farmer,” said Mr Oparanya on February 11, 2022. He made the remarks following rumours that he was teaming up with Dr Ruto for the polls.
Mr Joho has in the past accused President Ruto of graft and vowed never to work with him.
“I don’t even dream of engaging Ruto. What will he give me? A wheelbarrow? Which I used to play as a child?” Mr Joho said in the undated video.
But on his nomination, Mr Joho said on X: “It is with great humility and profound appreciation that I accept my nomination by President William Ruto.”
Mr Mbadi has also been critical of the Kenya Kwanza administration, including for overtaxing Kenyans.
“We agree that the debt level is unmanageable, but the mistake the government is making is to imagine it will collect more from Kenyans by increasing taxes. The moment you start attacking people’s salaries, they stop spending,” said Mr Mbadi.
In October 2022, Mr Mbadi said the National Assembly needed to reject the majority of President William Ruto’s Cabinet picks for being incompetent.
“We have a choice to make either a decision to reject over 60 per cent of these names or give President Ruto his skunk. Let us not interfere with it. We give it to him,” Mr Mbadi said.
