When Dr William Ruto takes the oath of office today as the country’s fifth President, it will be a remarkable rise to the pinnacle of power for a man who made his debut in elective politics 25 years ago.
He will be taking over from President Uhuru Kenyatta , with whom he has walked a political journey spanning the last two decades ever since the son of the country’s founding President, Jomo, made his first and unsuccessful presidential run in 2002.
Today will be somewhat nostalgic for the two leaders. For the outgoing President who campaigned against his deputy, it will be a reminder of what his mentor President Moi, who introduced him to the political stage with a nomination to Parliament in 2001, had to endure in 2002.
For his love for the Bible and its writings, Dr Ruto had widely been dismissed by his competitors as a hypocrite who attempts to own Jesus Christ. Others contemptuously insinuated that he goes about life pretending that he was “deputy Jesus”. But that has not prevented him from capitalising on the same writings of the gospel. He today walks into the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani, Nairobi — perhaps singing in his heart that “this is the day that the Lord has made” — to be declared the most powerful person in the country.
He takes over the reins of power from outgoing President Kenyatta, who, since 2018, has openly said he was not for the idea of his deputy taking over from him.
He has overcome betrayal after being let down and crucified by the very man he supported in 2002, 2013 and twice in 2017.
Mr Kenyatta led his battalions to paint Dr Ruto as a politician who is greedy for power and a man who is full of himself, quick to anger and whose leadership was guaranteed to turn the country into a banana republic.
Instead, Mr Kenyatta pitched for a Raila Odinga presidency — the very man who has been his community’s sworn political enemy — went ahead to woo Ms Martha Karua as Mr Odinga’s proposed deputy President and marshalled resources to campaign for the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party.
“Those of us experienced in transitions and how they work and who saw the President endorse Mr Odinga knew there was a likelihood of a problem on how it would end. We had seen Daniel Moi endorse Uhuru in 2002 and all government instruments were defeated by 69 per cent after he got 31 per cent of the votes cast,” says career administrator Joseph Kaguthi.
With Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati announcing Dr Ruto the winner with 7,176,141 votes (50.49 per cent) against Mr Odinga’s 6,942,930 (48.85 per cent), he faced a petition challenging his victory at the Supreme Court , which he also overcame on September 5.
Mr Kaguthi says: “I am personally not shocked that Uhuru is handing over power in exact similar circumstances that Moi handed did in 2002 since the masses do not favour ’projects’.”
Mr Kaguthi says Uhuru loyalists worked hard to have Mr Odinga lose “by carrying out campaigns that angered many people, especially in Mt Kenya region where Uhuru, Odinga and Karua were resoundingly rejected”.
He says that “by repeatedly telling Mt Kenya people that they did not have to vote for Mr Odinga for him to win and whether they liked it or not Dr Ruto would not win, only solidified their resentment for Azimio.”
President Kenyatta yesterday hosted his successor at State House, hours to the inauguration ceremony and acknowledged the incoming President in his address. On August 7 President Kenyatta had vernacular radio and TV stations hosting him for a last ditch effort to convince Mt Kenya to reconsider its support for Dr Ruto.
“It is for your own benefit … I don’t care whether you respect me or not. After all I am going home,” he had said. Ms Karua has also declared that she does not believe that Dr Ruto defeated Mr Odinga, hinting at going “to the East African court to seek justice”.
“We know that Uhuru would have loved to hand over the power to Raila but it is not the case,” says Deputy President-elect Rigathi Gachagua.
Referring to the bottlenecks on Dr Ruto’s journey to State House, Mr Gachagua says: “We are happy that it had to be so in the journey for Dr Ruto towards State House since no one today can say to him that they made him President.”
And on President Kenyatta’s retirement, Mr Gachagua says: “We will not entertain any monkey business around his retirement since even if he did not do us justice, he remains our son, a statesman and one whose position in history is guaranteed.”
