Meet the political ‘bad boys’ who are kicking up a storm

By Oscar Obonyo

Not so long ago they spearheaded Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential bid. They later parted ways with Uhuru and William Ruto separately playing lead roles in PNU and ODM campaigns and now they are back together, raising the political temperature.

And they have kicked off a whirlwind political tour of the country rather too early, more charged, venomous and vindictive. Meet Kenya’s latest political ‘bad boys’, Kanu party operatives of yesterday.

This time around, their union is mainly influenced by two factors – The Hague, where they have been named as post-election violence suspects, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a political foe who has become a perpetual target of their attacks.

Busy schedule

As the clock ticks away to their date at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Uhuru and Ruto have embarked on a busy schedule. They work up crowds by day and sit through long strategy meetings by night.

Indeed they have raised so much political dust and hogged more than their share of media publicity. The Executive Director of International Commission of Jurists, Kenya-Chapter (ICJ), George Kegoro, for instance, questions why the Government has allowed the duo to politicise the ICC process by daily poisoning the masses through rallies.

Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua has also explicitly told the duo "to stop all the hullaballoo" and "proceed to The Hague peacefully".

Agriculture Assistant Minister Kareke Mbiuki and Cherangany MP Joshua Kuttuny confess current circumstances present an opportunity of pushing through the Uhuru-Ruto presidential bid next year.

Reap accolades

Political analyst and pollster, Tom Wolf traces Uhuru and Ruto’s journey to the era of the Kanu regime. Kanu, observes Dr Wolf, is associated with abuse of political power and abuses of human rights.

"But Ruto has attempted to present the Kalenjin community with an opportunity to reinvent itself by discarding Kanu and joining mainstream political forces," observes Wolf.

Describing Ruto’s move as "a political cleansing exercise", the political analyst describes Moi’s persistent objection to his political associations as godsend. According to Wolf, this only helps Ruto to farther distance himself from the Kanu regime.

Ruto’s first steps towards apparent political metamorphosis was noticeable in 2005 when he joined hands with other political leaders, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice- President Kalonzo Musyoka, to reject what was largely believed to be a flawed Draft Constitution.

Two years later, he broke ranks with Moi, opting instead to team up with Raila in spearheading the PM’s presidential bid.

Wolf says these are the developments that ultimately cut off Ruto from the old order and helped portray him as independent-minded.

Having gone through this political ritual, Ruto, a huge beneficiary of the Kanu regime, and one among those who played a role in suppressing the push for democratic space and freedom of speech, can today lecture the public on oppression.

In an effort to equally reinvent himself, especially from the ‘project’ tag, Uhuru needed to run away from Kanu.

With the old baggage presumably off their backs, Uhuru and Ruto’s re-union is set to alter the political scene.

But Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo dismisses the current pact as an opportunistic coalition of two individuals, facing similar charges for international crimes.