Why William Ruto's fears could turn into absolute truth

We have come from far. You couldn’t imagine the death of a president in Jomo Kenyatta’s time (in the 70s0. Today, youthful Kenyans summon the courage of not only imagining but placing the president’s image in a coffin, looking pretty dead.

In reality, the death of a president is not just imagined, but is a matter that always has budgets attached to it – plans and strategies with personnel and equipment put in place to pre-empt its possibility. That goes beyond a sitting president to the men and women who seek the presidency.

In 2017, Raila’s presidential campaign fundraising was organised at the city hall. His principal aide, Dr Noah Akala, handed me Raila’s drinks: water and Coke Zero, with instructions to place them on the table when he arrived. After he walked away, I threw the drinks away and went to the supermarket to buy a fresh set. How could I hand Raila drinks whose history I didn’t know?

While on a campaign tour of Kapenguria, I spotted a member of our opposition in the Kitchen. I told his bodyguard, George Oduor alias Georgie, now deceased, to tell the boss not to eat or drink anything while in Kapenguria. And whenever Raila raised his head above his sunroof, I got out of the vehicle to reinforce his ground security despite not being a member of his security detail – I was the Political Affairs Director of the party.   

Therefore, any warnings from President William Ruto against those who plan to remove him from office to choose democratic means is not a matter to be taken at face value. Already, there was the Migori “shoe” that was thrown at him by an angry compatriot in Kehancha. What if that was an arrow laced with poison? Ruto would be in the Kawangware of the hereafter, while Rex Massai would be in the Lavington of heaven.

At politically precarious times as these, no amount of fear is far from the truth.

READ: Ruto issues tough warning to protesters attacking police

During the recent Gen Zee-led protests (June 25), a DCI officer from Meru lost his son to a bullet. The boy was walking home from school. A bullet hit him, perhaps to send a message that when police are allowed to use live bullets, they could hit anyone, including their own children. A lady police officer securing the streets of Nairobi met his son among the group of demonstrators.  Going by Ruto's recent "shoot the legs" order, that son in the crowd that was facing off with the police was easily a candidate for death,h as Rex Maasai was, after he died from a bullet in the leg.

Does it bother you, Mr President, that the two officers qualify to be your personal guards? When you issue some cold-blooded orders, does it occur to you that from among your armed forces, there are friends and relatives of those being shot? And so do you wonder sometimes if you are safe yourself?

In 1972, Zanzibar's popular President Abeid Karume stage-managed the murder of one of his soldiers and took his wife and children. A son to the dead soldier who later became one of Karume's guards, never forgave him. After returning from training in Russia, the young man one day aimed his pistol at Karume and shot him dead. The soldier picked him from among his five ministers who were playing the Ajua house game, with the conscientious soldier spared their lives.

And so let’s ask, are you sure the sons and daughters that the police have been killing under your command have no friends, relatives and loved ones from among your security staff? How about from the Sagana State lodge?  Are they all Nandi?

You have declared political war on the Kikuyu and proceeded to deploy goons to destroy their properties. My former boss at ODM and alumnus at UoN, read history.

When the Return to Africa Movement bore fruit over a century ago, some of our black people in the US were shipped back to Africa, where they established a country called Liberia. The leadership included an indigenous majority. A minority of new arrivals monopolised power for decades, marginalised and persecuted the majority of indigenous people in the way Ruto is trying with the Kikuyu.

In 1980, Sergeant Samuel Doe, the highest-ranking army officer from the indigenous community, staged a coup that ended up killing President William Tolbert and eleven ministers said to be close to him.

Ruto has tried to "Kalenjinize" key positions in government to both secure himself in power and reap the most from our collapsing economy. Does he realise that he cannot tribalize the engineering and maintenance departments of his air transport?

Does he know that such fascistic tendencies- the rule by one minority group is whet birther Samuel Doe in Liberia?

I see Mr President on TV picking flowers from kids. Not just that, he predictably eats roasted maize and tea from humble Kenyans running small affairs by the roadside. Late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gadthi was assassinated by a bomb inserted in a bouquet of flowers. Hon Samwel M’maitsi from Vihiga may have eaten the wrong roasted maize - He died on a podium. Your security, Mr President, goes beyond just having armed muscle men around you, razor barbed around State House road.

Mr Ruto, ever heard of a poor president who owned so little called Captain Thomas Sankara? He took power in present-day Burkina Faso in partnership with his childhood friend Blaise Compaore.

ALSO READ: The Finance Bill that soured Ruto's relationship with Gen Zs

Most African strongmen believed in their relatives and friends. Thomas Sankara believed in his Comrades - his best friend, Blaise Compaore, plotted his assassination along with his Ministers. Do you have a friend Dr Ruto? I suspect you may not have any since hyenas, which are a characteristic of your allies, are rarely genuine friends. It will, however, be of value if you read the story of Thomas Sankara.

Ruto may think marching into the state house for his eviction is a pipe dream. The late President Ceaușescu of Romania was kicked out of office and dispatched to the other side by a march on the presidential mansion, just like that of Gen-Z. Similarly, a government was overthrown in the Philippines by mass action in the last century.

Ruto’s love of projecting on the sunroof of his car is not beyond reach. He needs to find out how the Kennedy Dynasty was brought to an end. It was on the sunroof. An assassin picked John F Kennedy from that position, sending him out of office and launching the termination of the Kennedy dynasty. Robert Kennedy, the man I was named after, followed suit through assassination in 1968 on a campaign trail.

Ultimately, it is the people who are the surest security for any president and not guns, the police or the army- to secure the lives of citizens should be Ruto’s greatest agenda and not some friendship with Raila Odinga -his greatest watchman today

If Raila abandons Ruto now, change will happen the same week. Killings will stop instantly as the People's demands will be granted. I foresee a dialogue over the transfer of power to a caretaker committee chaired by Raila, which will grant him safety with the opportunity for a safe flight to exile if he chooses.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s way is a most safe route for a president who has annoyed his countrymen the way Ruto has done; apologise to the people of Kenya and resign.