Ruto and allies flirting with danger by chest thumping about 2027 poll

Consent of the governed is not an opinion. It is the life blood of liberal democracy, and the foremost inalienable right of the ruled. Would Kenya Kwanza and ODM defy this, to steal the 2027 presidential election? Would they stay in government by force, if the poll said Ruto must go?  

The vibes from that fraternity are disturbing. They speak of a partnership that will stop at nothing to retain power. Ruto and Odinga must continue to govern at whatever cost, it  would seem. Do they need to be reminded that this is dangerous thinking? In liberal democracy, such as Kenya professes, political power derives from the consent of the governed. A leader and his government are illegitimate, if they don’t have this consent. And this consent is not gained through stuffing of ballot boxes, or other forms of electoral malpractice.  

Presidential elections in Kenya are a powder keg. You tamper with this gunpowder at the risk of the whole country. Kenyans ought to have learned this by now. But learning is sometimes difficult. We seem to need constant ugly lessons, such as happened in 2007/2008. It  will be two decades in 2027, after Kenya tittered on the brink, because of a bad presidential election. The season has produced new voters, not born when the political earthquake happened. So, they don’t know. 

There are people, however, who should know better. Some were hauled before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. Others cried with them. And some others were accused of taking them there. When the 2007 gunpowder was touched off, Kenya burned. Yet, today, establishment politicians are teasing Kenya with the possibility of another powder keg.  

President William Ruto himself talks of roasting the opposition. “Nitawakaranga,” he says in Kiswahili. This is a loaded message, not to be taken at face value. And no less than three politically correct MPs have declared in public that they will stuff ballot boxes for President Ruto. “If the votes are not in the box, we will stuff them. Ruto must have a second term,” this is their common refrain. 

It is a dangerous chorus. For, even if Ruto should be legitimately re-elected, Kenyans will doubt. Many will want to believe that the election was stolen, as was promised. How will the emerging critical mass of opposition respond to a Ruto victory, be it genuine or stolen? This should worry the President and his supporters. It should concern other entities, too, like the National Cohesion and Integration Commission. Are they sleeping on the job?  

No entity of significant authority has done anything meaningful about the ominous calling of Kenya to strife. Yes, Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, has made some not-so-significant lamentation about it. And IEBC, too, since its reconstitution, has whimpered about it. But nothing much to write home about.   

We may, indeed, wonder if Mudavadi even listens to himself. He has told Kenyans it is impossible to remove a sitting African president. Hence, we should all rally behind Ruto. The message is simple. The Prime CS is telling the world that the African election will invariably be stolen. Accordingly, we should not waste our time, energy and other resources, dreaming about sending President Ruto home. If we do not give him the election, he will take it anyway. 

No, Mr Mudavadi. It is Kenyans’ democratic right to dream such dreams. If they want, they must attempt to remove Ruto through constitutional means. And if possible they must remove him. You, the captains of the present joint regime, believe wrongly in some voodoo arithmetic intended to operate outside the law. It is dangerous. 

Meanwhile, President Ruto is talking about national healing, cohesion and integration. How now, when at the self-same time, his team toys with the thought of a stolen presidential poll? The two don’t go together. You are cuddling an elephant’s crotches, Mr Mudavadi. The grain of Kenya’s political history teaches us that tampering with elections will have undesirable outcomes, such as are detailed in the Waki Commission Report. They include things like the Kiamba church tragedy, the Naivasha fires and murders, sexual violation, murder, mayhem and the ignominy of The Hague. 

If President Ruto and his team are serious about national healing, they must begin to walk the talk. Preeminent in this respect is constitutionalism. They must stop this bosh about stealing the 2027 election, and commit to respecting the will of the governed. Then they must begin addressing Gen-Z concerns on good governance. Short of that, they are pounding water in a mortar. The country will reject. 

-Dr Muluka is a strategic communications adviser.