It's Ruto who loses every time he trades insults with his former deputy

Rigathi Gachagua gains from trading barbs with President William Ruto. [File, Standard]

There is a special kind of genius in what Rigathi Gachagua has been doing these past months. It requires no budget, no manifesto, no serious policy proposal, and no office. All it requires is a mouth, a microphone, and opponents unguarded enough to keep responding. Gachagua has all three, and he has been exploiting that equation with the unsuppressed glee of a man who has discovered he can run the country from the outside, without any of the accompanying responsibilities.

The basic formula, as I noted in this column recently, is simple. Poke, prod, needle, and make a general nuisance of yourself until the other fellow forgets he is supposed to be governing and descends into the alley to trade blows with you. It worked on Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, a man of considerable academic distinction who keeps appearing at the mud-wrestling arena. Now, astonishingly, it is working on President William Ruto himself.