Cunning Ruto: Master of distraction

In the two years he has been in office, President William Ruto has mastered the art of using deception and distractions to divert Kenyans' attention away from the numerous scandals and crises that have plagued his administration.

Crises have hit several sectors, including health, education, security, energy, transportation, and diplomacy, with some being significant enough to potentially destabilize government.

The head of state has perfected the art of generating "bombshells" that capture public attention, even as significant events unfold unnoticed around them.

On Monday, Kenyans were glued to their phones and TVs to monitor the proceedings in Mombasa where the president, on a week's working tour of the coast met opposition chief, Raila Odinga, signalling what could be the birth of a new coalition.

This was happening on a day when over 600 hospitals across the country were turning hundreds of thousands away because the controversial Social Health Authority (SHA) had not paid  bills worth Sh30  billions carried over from the moribund National   Hospital Insurance Fund(NHIF) for services rendered.

Ruto and Raila had just come from a grueling unsuccessful African Union Commission (AUC) chairmanship campaign. After their meeting in Mombasa, President Ruto  welcomed Raila and hinted of expanding his administration to give Raila more slots in the government.

At the time of his political pronouncements in Mombasa, the country was still reeling in shock over the death of over 20 people in Todonyang along Kenya-Ethiopia border where heavily armed militiamen reportedly ambushed fishermen on Lake Turkana, indiscriminately opening fire.

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The dust has not settled on another debacle after Kenya Kwanza administration has allowed  Sudan militia group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to declare the establishment of a parallel government, a move that has sent shock waves from Khartoum to Washington DC .

While some observers have termed it unfortunate that Nairobi, which chairs the East African Community, was taking sides when the country should be playing its role of a neutral arbiter for the creation of an all-inclusive government in Khartoum.

As President Ruto continues to crisscross Coast in his quest to expand his political networks, he has avoided the human rights groups rage over the abduction of Uganda Opposition politician Kizza Besigy who was abducted in Kenyan soil and handed to Ugandan authorities to face treason charges.

On Monday, a section of human rights groups in Kenya, led by Amnesty International Kenya and Vocal Africa held peaceful demonstrations in Nairobi to demand the release of Besigye, who has been in detention since he was taken back to Uganda to face a military trial following his arrest last November in Kenya.

Three weeks ago, five weeks were abducted in Mandera as they were preparing for the head of states visit in the area. The kidnapping occurred after militants hijacked a government vehicle in the Iresuki area that was transporting the chiefs to Elwak Town to a meeting at the Mandera South Sub-County offices with Deputy County Commissioner Tobias Otunga in preparation for President Ruto’s visit to Mandera and the broader North Eastern region.

During his visit, the president vowed that the chiefs believed to have been spirited to Somalia must be returned, even as he announced his controversial scrapping of vetting of border communities before being issued with national identity cards and passports. An  administrator from Mandera has since been arrested for illegally registering two suspected terrorists.

The education sector is in a crisis. There is a looming major financial crisis after the government funding allocations fall short by Sh27 billion across Primary Junior and Secondary schools and the school heads proposal to hike fees by up to Sh20000 annually.

The funding deficit is a major threat to over 368,000 university students who risk missing out on their education, according to a report that was presented to the National Assembly Education Committee by Principal Secretary for Higher Education and Research Beatrice Inyangala.

 “Without intervention the students risk discontinuing their studies and this will have a long term implication for both students and universities,” she said even as she pointed that the total resource requirements for scholarships to students and grants to universities is estimated at Sh77.58 million but only Sh40.49 billion has been allocated leaving a funding gap of Sh37 billion.

To add insult to the injury, Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha), in a document dubbed Operational Crisis in Secondary Schools seeks to hike fees by Sh20000 annually.

According to the proposal, parents with children in national schools would be required to pay Sh73,182 per year, an increase from the current Sh53,554. This would mean an extra Sh19,628 for families with children in these schools.

For extra county and county schools, the principals propose that parents pay Sh68,023 annually, up from the current Sh45,554. Additionally, the school heads have called for the introduction of fees in day schools, which the government has previously maintained for free .

 The proposal suggests that students in day schools pay an additional Sh5,372, on top of the Sh22,244 capitation provided by the government.

Kessha argues that the current school fees, set under government guidelines, no longer reflect the realities of inflation and the rising costs of food, utilities, and essential learning materials. The school heads highlight that the prices of various essential commodities have significantly increased.

“The current capitation of Sh22,244 per learner was last reviewed seven years ago, and it is, therefore, incongruent with the prevailing economic realities,” the school heads stated in the proposal.

 As a result of the controversial funding model that is now a subject to the court proceedings, some 14,000 students who were placed in universities this year did not report. While the Ministry of Education had projected that 138,538 students would join institutions of higher learning, only 124,364 students have so far reported.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, while appearing in Parliament last week to answer questions from MPs, was at pains to explain what the government is doing to mop the learners to join sdchool.

 “It was expected that 122,634 students would report but 124,364 students reported. About 2,000 more students reported than the expected trends,” Ogamba said.

On health, patients have started reeling in pain after the private hospitals made true their plans to suspend Social Health Authority (SHA) services, citing unpaid NHIF arrears, an unworkable outpatient reimbursement model, and government inaction in addressing persistent challenges.

The Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association (RUPHA) Chairperson Brian Lishenga said the ongoing system glitches and mounting arrears have led to staff losses in many health facilities.

“The relevant authorities have ignored the challenges facing this new healthcare system, putting patients’ lives at risk and threatening the survival of hospitals due to weak service provision,” Lishenga said.

He revealed that hospitals are struggling with unpaid debts dating back to 2017, leading to bank defaults, stock outs of essential medicines, and non-payment of consultants for years.

RUPHA is demanding that the government settle the Sh30 billion NHIF arrears in full. The association is also calling for a revision and streamlining of the SHA outpatient reimbursement model to ensure that facilities are adequately compensated.

Additionally, RUPHA wants the government to guarantee fair and timely payments under Medical Administrators Kenya Limited (MAKL), which manages medical schemes for police officers and teachers.

Healthcare workers have also issued a 14-day ultimatum to the government to rescind their decision to defund and merge various health associations and unions into a single regulatory body among other reforms that they describe as ‘detrimental to the healthcare system.’

 “The government claims it lacks funds, so why create another regulatory body instead of restructuring Kenya Health Professional Authority  (KHPOA) to expand its mandate into accreditation and quality of care?”  Peterson Wachira, National Chairman of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO),

 Political analysts believe there is a diversionary tactic,  where the Kenya Kwanza administration deploys a ‘state-sponsored propaganda’ such as the ongoing debate about the Judiciary purge, the removal of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from Parliamentary committees and the political alliances to keep Kenyans busy from reflecting on the real issues bedeviling them.

“The State sponsored propaganda is a scheme used world over to influence debates in bid to avert concentration of Kenyans from real issues. If these issues were allowed to take the center stage, there would be calls of protests which in the long run, threatens the environment for the ruling class,” Dr Charles Mwangi JKUAT don noted.

Another analyst Macharia Munene opined that the President had a political army with tough-talking field agents who were good at diverting public attention from the ills afflicting the country.

 “Ruto struggles to ensure that only he is the cockerel that crows in the Kenyan landscape and his strategy is to keep the country occupied with political theatrics as a diversionary tactic,” he said.