Gideon and Ruto, the two bulls in the Rift Valley arena

 The DP believes he is Rift Valley’s political godfather and every politician who seeks power must go through him

Mama Ngina Kenyatta, the living matriarch of the Kenyatta family, and former president Daniel arap Moi have one thing in common: when they speak, their children listen.

To understand the avalanche of speculation, rumours and innuendo in the political landscape, you just have to look at the events that happened before the visit.

First, the opposition launched the National Super Alliance (NASA), in which, the Secretary General of Kanu, Nick Salat, who is said to be a very close confidant of Gideon, was present. At the NASA launch, Salat declared that Kanu was part of the alliance.

Then hours later, there was a denial from other party stalwarts.  A few days later, Gideon and all the Kanu delegates met to discuss whom to partner with ahead of the elections, and postponed the decision for a fortnight.

It is during this interlude, when Kanu is mulling on its decision, that the mother of the current President went to visit Moi for a “chat and a meal”. Here’s why. Gideon and the Deputy President do not see eye-to-eye.

The DP believes he is Rift Valley’s political godfather and every politician who seeks power must go through him. In the words of Nick Salat, Ruto is “somebody who wants to be everything to everybody” in the Rift Valley political sphere.

In Ruto’s words, he formed Jubilee, and has brought development to the Kalenjin nation. He has in fact once told Gideon that because the Kalenjin community was loyal to his father in the 24 years that the senior Moi was in power, it was Gideon’s turn to support him (Ruto), because he’s the senior-most man in the region.

But to Gideon, it’s not about favours or Ruto’s turn to eat. He has often said he needs services delivered and the people to enjoy the fruits of having one of their own in power, because, they are taxpayers anyway.

“Let’s not lie to each other that things are fine. There are issues that need to be addressed,” Gideon once told a political meeting when farmers in the Rift Valley complained about unfavourable maize prices and other challenges in the tea sector.

During the burial of Mark Too, Gideon tried to explain himself to the people: “It is not a must for the Kalenjin community to follow a certain direction. I am not the one splitting the Kalenjin. Any leader who discovers a problem needs to call for help. I will go out and look for friends. If another person goes out to look for other friends, is there any problem? The blessings will all be ours,” said the Kanu chairman.

In short, he was telling the Deputy President that he should not think that he is the way to power or that he reserves the monopoly to form coalitions with other politicians in his quest for State House.

The Mois and Kenyattas have a deep and historical relationship. Nobody really knows why Moi settled on Uhuru to succeed him. If vision and competence was all that was needed, Moi wouldn’t have settled on a politician who had never been elected to succeed him. When Uhuru became president, he visited Moi and the former president also visited him at State House. In those visits, Ruto was not present.

The question then becomes, if Uhuru dumps Ruto for Gideon, will the Rift Valley voters revolt or will they toe the line? Or put another way, what are the guarantees that Ruto will forever be the regional kingpin with a tight political stranglehold on Rift Valley voters?