By Oscar Obonyo

 It may interest newly elected Deputy President William Samoei Ruto to note that latest occupants of the Number Two slot have not been lucky enough to survive a second term in office. They have all fell by the wayside, the latest victim being Mr Kalonzo Musyoka.

The political “curse” started with Mr Musalia Mudavadi, who lost his Sabatia parliamentary seat in 2002, barely two months after appointment as Kenya’s eighth Vice-President. As fate would have it, his successor Michael Kijana Wamalwa passed on after just seven months in office. 

Former Funyula MP Moody Awori, who took the mantle from Wamalwa, was not lucky. He failed to recapture his parliamentary seat in 2007, in the same way his successor Kalonzo, who teamed up with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as running mate, missed the presidency.

Mudavadi, who first became an MP in 1989, was a victim of political miscalculation. He blundered in 2002 by going against the political wave of his populous Luhya community, in the same way he did in this year’s elections. In both instances, his loss has been linked to his association with President Uhuru Kenyatta. 

Wamalwa’s, was purely a tragic fate, while Mr Awori, same as Mudavadi, went against the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) political wave in Luhyaland. Instead he sided with his former boss President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) in the 2007 polls.

Constitutional dictate

On the other hand the Tenth VP, Kalonzo, is a victim of new constitutional dictates. The presidential system of government adopted in the new order has a clear separation of powers between the Executive and Legislature. According to the arrangement, presidential poll losers automatically get locked out of Parliament.

 Ideally, Kalonzo would have missed out on the State House bid but certainly not his Mwingi North parliamentary seat, as has been the case under the old order.

When he embarked on his own presidential bid before eventually teaming up with Raila for a joint ticket under the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD), the question on the lips of some was whether he would break the jinx suffered by his predecessors.

Dropped

Before Kalonzo, Awori, Wamalwa and Mudavadi, there was the late Prof George Saitoti, one of the longest serving VPs under former President Moi. He was dropped in 2002 in favour of Mudavadi, and passed on last year while serving as Internal Security minister in former President Kibaki’s government. 

Except for Moi and Kibaki, who rose to become Heads of State, other VPs who served before Saitoti have since passed on. They include, Kenya’s first VP, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, second VP Joseph Murumbi and Dr Josephat Karanja who was Kenya’s fifth VP.

 But reflecting on the latest occupants of the Number Two slot, one wonders whether the position is jinxed. The Deputy President may want to view it differently. Despite occupying the Number Two slot like his predecessors, Ruto’s title is different, with a new name and job description comparatively more powerful. May be he will break the jinx.