The master of spin: Ruto’s art of turning challenges into opportunities
A great deal of scientific thought has been channelled towards understanding why cats hardly fall on their backs when dropped in an upside-down position.
Similar attention may be heading the way of President William Ruto and how he manages to manoeuvre situations that look like political blows and land unscathed – if not stronger.
Ruto is quickly joining a list of politicians associated with the prefix “Teflon”, the chemical used in making non-stick cooking items.
In the list of Teflon politicians are personalities like former US President Donald Trump and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
They are known to quickly turn bad press to their advantage and even thriving further. When he made his “mambo ni matatu” utterance in September, Dr Ruto caused a storm.
Through it, he gave the corrupt three options: Leave Kenya, go to jail or be “transported” to heaven – a euphemism for execution. Some critics found it unpresidential because it suggested the use of extrajudicial means as official policy.
Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka said it was a recipe for anarchy. A lobby group went to court to compel Ruto to withdraw it.
As he repeated the phrase in a subsequent address to the nation, the President sought to appeal to the locals by saying it was the only way to save sugar factories and other dwindling investments. Ruto has now patented the remark.
According to a notice in the latest journal from the Kenya Industrial Property Institute, the phrase “mambo ni mangapi” accompanied by a three-finger sign is Ruto’s intellectual property.
Equally, “mambo ni matatu: mambo ni matatu” are registered to Ruto. Using them in clothing, advertising, education, and personal and social services without Dr Ruto’s permission can land you in trouble.
In turning the tide regarding “mambo ni matatu”, President Ruto continued his tendency to spin “negativity” to his own advantage.
Two years ago, as his opponents cast aspersions on him calling himself a hustler, he couldn’t resist spinning that.
“People are worried that the lowly have begun to realise that their issues are important and must be part of the national conversation,” he said in September 2021 in an attempt to endear himself to voters at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
When his competitors threw jibes at his choice of a “backward” wheelbarrow as his party symbol, Ruto had a response.
“We picked a wheelbarrow because it is a sign of working. You will find a wheelbarrow in a deputy president’s house and you can find it in the house of an unemployed person. He will have it there to help him do his work,” he argued in December 2021.
“It can help you in all jobs.” When he was under fire for engaging in “tangatanga”, which was going round the country to address rallies rather than focus on his duties as deputy president, his response was that he was seeking to stay close to the grassroots.
Even in the face of personal storms like the 2017 matter when a woman came out to accuse him of neglecting a daughter he had sired out of wedlock, Ruto responded and explained how he was supporting the mother – effectively shutting down a story about his private life that could have proved a political liability.
According to political and policy analyst Edwin Kegoli, the “Teflon Ruto” phenomenon is due to the President’s giftedness. “(He is) uniquely gifted in terms of oration, political creativity and debate,” said Kegoli.
Ruto’s eloquence is a fact that the opposition Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition reluctantly admitted in their analysis of his one year in office, though they were quick to note it often amounts to little.
“Despite the rhetoric, despite the eloquent words and the confusing figures, Kenya Kwanza has been badly exposed on all fronts,” said the coalition’s statement. “No amount of oratory or extravagant claims can hide the harsh fact that we have had an extremely disastrous and difficult one year and there is no reason whatsoever for Kenyans to believe that the next one year will be better,” it added.
In Kegoli’s view, Ruto has mastered the art of turning around a perfect storm to his advantage. “He’s able to change narratives and is somebody who comes up with ownership.
He says ‘I am responsible for saying this, I am responsible for saying that’ or he’s also taking responsibility for his actions. Like in the social issue of Baby Abby, he came out and said ‘I do not disown anything and this is my responsibility and I have done a number of things to make sure that the mother is comfortable and the baby is taken care of’.
That silenced any criticism or the social issue turning into political fodder and giving advantage to his political enemies,” said Kegoli.
According to Prof Winnie Mitullah, a political science expert, it is all because Ruto is in his element as a populist. “Populists are very good at coining captivating narratives for rallying populations.
The hustler narrative is not different from the concept of jua kali, which Kenya has had for many decades, but Ruto popularised an alternative word as a rallying call,” said Prof Mitullah.
“Mambo ni matatu, which is now patented, is easy to sell because corruption remains a major challenge and when the President says people will go to jail, leave Kenya or go to hell, the message hits what all of us know is a problem and earns Ruto a good score from many citizens,” she added.
Kegoli thinks the art of the spin is a mechanism Ruto’s rival Raila Odinga lacks. “Raila lacks political propaganda machinery. If you remember the issue of mitumba (when Odinga pledged to reduce dependency on second-hand clothes if elected President), the propaganda machinery on the wing of Ruto was able to turn it around and make it look so bad; that Raila intended to kill mitumba business.
That was not what Raila meant. Raila lacked a support base on how to legitimise his assertions and turn around the message that was in his manifesto and pronouncement because the propaganda machinery of Ruto always overpowered what Raila had,” argued Kegoli. Ruto has cut the image of the politician who never lacks an answer.
Whether he is being criticised for taking wads of cash to churches in donations, or for constructing a hotel on dubiously acquired government property, he always has a response.
“Mtoto wa masikini akipata, ameiba, lakini mtoto wa tajiri akiiba, ni kwa sababu ya baba yake (when a poor person’s child creates wealth, he is accused of stealing; but when a rich man’s child steals, it is because it is his father’s),” he observed in 2018 amid questions over the wealth he was amassing.
Like wrestler ‘Amalinze the Cat’ in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, who got the nickname because his back never touched the ground when he was in fights, Ruto looks like he will keep building a fortress using whatever brickbats are thrown his way.
