Misplaced anger? President Ruto chases 'ghosts', turns Uhuru and Sifuna into bogeymen

An adage goes: when your house is on fire, you do not chase after fleeing rats; instead, you put out the fire. President William Ruto seems to be doing the exact opposite.

At a time when the economy is struggling, university education is paralysed, families face hunger following crop failures, and debt is choking both citizens and the government, the President appears preoccupied with political campaigns.

And he is doing so with such vigour that he comes across as an angry man. He has found a fall guy in former president Uhuru Kenyatta, who has become a central focus of his political attacks.

For two months in a row, the Head of State has framed next year’s General Election as a contest between himself and his predecessor. He has gone as far as hurling insults and using harsh language against Uhuru.

Ruto has chosen his Rift Valley backyard and the Nyanza region as the playground for his political outbursts against the former president.

The two regions are significant to Ruto’s political calculations. He hails from the Rift Valley, where his remarks could stir emotions and rally supporters to register in large numbers. In Nyanza, his attacks on Uhuru could provoke a reaction from a community that has been grateful to the former president for supporting its son, the late Raila Odinga, in the 2022 presidential election.

On Monday, Ruto, speaking in Uasin Gishu County, accused Uhuru of betraying him in the 2022 election, claiming that he abandoned him after years of political support and campaigned against his presidential bid.

He said he stood by Uhuru during the 2013 and 2017 elections but received no support when he sought the presidency.

“I voted for you four times. I stood with you when you started your journey to leadership. I stood with you in 2013 and 2017. You conned me,” Ruto said.

The President accused Uhuru of breaking their alleged political understanding that each would serve as president for 10 years, claiming that the former president turned against him when he sought to succeed him.

Ruto said Kenyatta urged Kenyans not to vote for him in 2022, but voters elected him to lead the country.

“Ulisema miaka kumi yangu na kumi ya Ruto, wakati ilifika wewe kusema na mimi ukanitapeli ukanihepa ukawambia Wa kenya wasinipigie kura. You are the most ungrateful person I have met; you are the most deceitful character I have met. How can you oppose me when the people of Kenya have elected me? How dare you oppose me when I supported you for ten years,” the seemingly agitated Ruto told his supporters.

He added: “Na wale majamaa wanahangaika na Uhuru Kenyatta, waniulize mimi, huyu mjama ni mtapeli mkubwa bwana, kama alinitapeli mimi nimempigia kura, nimemfanyia kampeni, nyinyi atammalizia asubuhi. Umemtapeli Raila ukamtapeli Kalonzo, ulieta Matiangi; sasa anahangaika.

On September 15, in another political tirade, Ruto, speaking in Siaya, labelled Uhuru a rebel leader who had refused to embrace the role of a statesman.

While celebrating a High Court ruling that barred Uhuru from holding office in a political party, Ruto claimed that his predecessor had brought shame to the office of the President, which he previously occupied.

“Mimi nashangaa, mtu ambaye amekuwa Rais wa Kenya, unaacha kiti ya Rais, badala ya kwenda kuwa statesman, unaenda kuwa rebel leader, kiongozi wa upinzani. Mpaka saa hii korti inamwambia atoke,” President Ruto stated.

The President added that Uhuru had disgraced the highest office in the land and accused him of continuing to sponsor the Opposition in an effort to destabilise his government.

“Imagine surely hiyo ni aibu kubwa. Na sasa ati amekodesha Orengo hapa, hao watu wa Linda Sponyo. Gavana Orengo awachane na maneno ya Linda Sponyo, kama Uhuru Kenyatta hakunishinda akiwa Rais ataninishinda saa hii kweli?” Ruto posed.

The President’s allies yesterday backed his claims, accusing Uhuru of supporting Opposition candidates separately in an effort to force Ruto into a presidential run-off against one of them.

"We know his game plan. He is financing Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna in Western, Kalonzo in Eastern and the rest in their backyards, because his strategy is for no one to get 50+1 to create a run-off. He wants each region to have a presidential candidate." said Kenya Kwanza Deputy Regional Campaign Coordinator Ayub Savula.

Ruto has also portrayed other Opposition leaders, including Sifuna and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, as Uhuru’s political puppets, claiming he would defeat them just as he did in the 2022 General Election.

According to a section of MPs and political analysts, Ruto’s attacks are intended to create a bogeyman ahead of next year’s General Election and divert attention from pressing issues affecting Kenyans, including the high cost of living, heavy taxation, abductions and police brutality.

Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan said the President’s outbursts reflected a difficult political environment in which he had resorted to portraying Uhuru as a scapegoat.

“It's more of a reflection of how hot and how difficult this election campaign is becoming for the President and his party; he's lashing out at imaginary because Uhuru is retired and he will not be in the ballot,” he said.

The MP also expressed concern that Ruto’s conduct was unbecoming of a president and ran counter to the expectations of the office.

“What worries me is the fact that these statements are becoming indiscipline, unrestrained, unhinged and the public behaviour of the president in public rallies now is not a good sign for our country, given the fact that we have young people who look at him as a role model. He's a role model and he is placing himself beneath the great office of the President of the Republic of Kenya,” the MP said.

He added: “He requires some restraint on the part of the president and decorum because he's talking to 50 million Kenyans, including women and children. It doesn't set a good example for us as a country. If a President is using the microphone at every rally to abuse or attack a retired president and I think there should be some political restraint and political discipline in our campaigns because it we're becoming a divided nation increasingly," he added.

Advocate of the High Court Titus Makhanu, however, said Ruto and his allies appeared to be under the illusion that the retired president was constitutionally obliged to support the government of the day.

He noted that the matter had been litigated and that the High Court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Bahati Mwamuye, had declared sections of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act unconstitutional following attempts to slash or stop Uhuru’s pension.

“The court has come out very clearly to declare section four of the Retired President's Pensions Benefits Act unconstitutional and the court went ahead to say that having climbed down from the Office of the President, the retired President becomes an ordinary citizen and is entitled to exercise his political rights and participate in political issues just like any other citizen,’ Mukhanu said.

Makhanu said Ruto understood that unity within the Opposition posed a significant threat to his re-election bid and was using every means at his disposal to undermine it.

“Everybody has understood that the current President has become the existential threat to the Kenyans, political independence and progression of the country and the President is aware that when the Opposition unites, it's going to be very difficult for him, especially with someone in the State of Uhuru coming in to join hands with the opposition.”

He added: “The only thing that he can do is to start a war of propaganda and a divisive narrative against the Opposition.”

However, former Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu argued that Ruto had a genuine grievance against Uhuru, given their political history and the support Ruto had offered during Uhuru’s political journey since 2002.

“Ruto stood with Uhuru through 4 elections. Even Kibaki at one point was against Uhuru while Ruto was still supporting Uhuru. Uhuru kept Ruto as his Deputy President for 10 years. During that period, Uhuru was basically telling us that if anything had happened to him, he was happy to leave us and the country in Ruto’s hands. He can’t win a fight against Ruto on this matter - no matter how bad Ruto is. What he did is genuinely ungrateful and deceitful,” the former MP said.