Why deal between President and Raila is a blow to ex-DP

Last week’s signing of a 10-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga raises many interesting observations. Some political pundits believe that the MoU provides a much-needed blow-valve through which tensions that have rocked Ruto’s presidency will be dissipated. Others believe that it presages a dearth of public accountability with the de facto father of Opposition now a member of the government in all but name.

The pact between erstwhile political foes appears to be transactional. American economist and political commentator Thomas Sowell said, “politics is the art of making your selfish desires seem like national interests.” It seems Raila is an exemplar of Sowell’s pithy observation. For decades, he has wrangled for himself deals that put him at the heart of Kenya’s government.  US-based university professor David Monda, in a newspaper article, describes Raila as “the first and foremost prime political survivor that puts enlightened self-interest above all.”

Yet in seeking his own interests, Raila is not alone. Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua seems to be following the same trajectory. Trash-talking Ruto, whom he blames for his impeachment, could be intended to cobble up alliances with other disaffected politicians. It could also be a gambit to advance his own interests clothed in Mt Kenya community garb.

The MoU between Ruto and Raila is a symbolic cudgel for two reasons. First, it defangs Gachagua by removing Raila’s populous support base from the former’s ethnic calculus. The former DP had hoped to ride on this support base to restrict Ruto presidency to a single term, if not to bring it to a premature end. Gachagua’s animus is not without reason. For the first time in independent Kenya’s history, the Kikuyu nation is excluded from the presidency.  He may go down in history with the dubious distinction of being the one who led them out of power.

Indignant voices

Second, the MoU is face-saving for both Ruto and Raila. After close to two years of talking smack against each other, it now allows them to stifle any indignant voices. The 10-point deal ostensibly elevates the interests of the nation above those of the President and former PM. Should the MoU hold, it may work for the good of the nation by curbing the President’s imperialist tendencies.

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Hitherto, his appointees have been unable to countermand him on a raft of national issues. This has given rise to the impression that he is a micromanager. The MoU creates another centre of power with “regulatory” influence over the Executive. Already, Cabinet secretaries from Raila’s ODM party are running Treasury, Energy and other ministries with an independence and intellectual acuity that was absent before Ruto’s Cabinet reshuffle.

Then there are other political players who have perfected the art of riding on the wave of the strongest parties. They have been pejoratively referred to as flower girls because they come with no agenda of their own. “Ruto must go” chants are not an agenda.

Their redemption may lie in a new-found ability to amplify fringe voices. But even in this, they find competition from the Gen Zs. Young, energetic and untainted by the morass of toxic politics, they have the will and the tools to relegate flower girls to political oblivion.

Mr Khafafa is a public policy analyst