At the height of his power, Deputy President William Ruto was boisterous and chest-thumped about everything. He rejected electoral reforms, shunned dialogue and even boasted that he will still win the presidency even if Raila Odinga’s bother Dr. Oburu Odinga was the in charge of IEBC.
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Two days before the 2017 general elections, two of Raila Odinga’s senior foreign advisers were ambushed and rounded up in their houses along Dennis Pritt Road by plainclothes officers.
John Phillips, American Chief Executive of Aristotle, a political consultancy and his Canadian counterpart, Andreas Katsouris were deported from Kenya on account of their affiliation to Raila Odinga’s presidential campaign.
This incident had been preceded by a series of other electoral maladies orchestrated by senior government functionaries. At one point, Raila Odinga had alleged that the military had been co-opted into the rigging scheme, ostensibly to act as poll agents for the Jubilee party particularly within NASA strongholds. As envisaged by the constitution, Cabinet Secretaries were expected to be neutral in political contests. However, Fred Matiang’i and a host of other CSs, including Charles Keter and Najib Balala, went around the country campaigning for Uhuru and Ruto. On being asked by journalists about the IEBC stand on CS involvement in campaign in 2017, Wafula Chebukati stated that within the civil service cadre, only CSs were allowed to campaign.
Notably, the then State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu, during one of his regular briefings, claimed that CSs were not campaigning but simply selling the Jubilee manifesto and agenda.
Despite protests from the opposition, the flagrant disregard of the law by the Jubilee Party continued unchecked. Severally, William Ruto went around the country admonishing NASA for what he claimed was a clueless, rudderless and visionless outfit that was clutching at straws to survive after sensing defeat. What William Ruto forgot then while wallowing in the glory of state largesse and infrastructure was that the fruits of democracy trickle down to both the supporters and opposers of the oppressor alike.
Little did he know that less than five years later, he would find himself in the same position Raila Odinga was in 2017. Now exit NASA and enter Kenya Kwanza. In their letter dated November 5, 2021, addressed to the IEBC, UDA protested the involvement of CSs in campaign.
These protests culminated in a series of other complaints, with the recent one being the claim to the EU Ambassadors that the state was laying ground for rigging in favour of Raila Odinga.
What is good for the goose must be good for the gander. The DP has not only been part of the problem that is afflicting third world country, he is fact one of its biggest champions. However, it was good then simply because it favoured him
But since the shoe is in the other foot today, he is now claiming high moral ground, clothing himself in the holier-than-thou veneer. One thing is that Hustler Mwitu William Ruto is the architecture of his own downfall.
By any means, William Ruto should be defeated at the ballot in 2022, transparently or by rigging. Thereafter, we can collectively come to an understanding as a country and agree on what is legal and what is illegal.
