From Tanga to Mombasa and Lamu, have no doubt as Ruto's in full command

President Ruto and Aliko Dangote during the ground breaking of Lamu Oil Refrinery.[Courtesy]

Despite a court order that required the government to halt any development on the Lamu refinery until the case before it is heard and determined, Prezzo Bill Ruto inaugurated the project on Wednesday. Reason? His word is law and the law is his word. If he wants a refinery, then he gets a refinery.

When he made a similar offer to build a refinery in the Tanzanian coastal town of Tanga, Tz Prezzo Suluhu Hassan, who famously urged Prezzo Ruto to use his big stick and “discipline” irritant activists, she publicly reprimanded our Prezzo.

Suluhu said she had no such info and she had no way of vouching for its veracity. So she wisely warned that any questions on the alleged Tanga refinery would be directed to Prezzo Ruto.

Prezzo Ruto was pricked to the quick by the rebuff, especially given the insinuation that he had invented the Tanga project on the go. So he turned and said he had expected praise, not rebuke and doubts. And if this was the attitude from the people of Tz, he sulked that he’d take the refinery back to Kenya where he’d not need consult anyone.

Well, that sounds like a broker seeking a business opportunity, not a Head of State running a country. I suppose the two tasks are one and the same for Prezzo Ruto. Within no time, the proposed refinery was shifted from Tanga to Mombasa, then from Mombasa to Lamu.

No, we did not see any policy proposals. All these were things that our indefatigable Prezzo worked out in his head. When one has a Ph.D., that level of brain power converts all problems of the world into simple, mental sums.

Enter Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian investor who’s had a long-standing reputation as the wealthiest man on the continent, a dollar billionaire, no less, just as Prezzo Ruto reportedly aspires to hit by the end of his term next August.

I hear Dangote has been in business for decades, but our Prezzo is likely to catch up with him after barely 4.5 years, which means he’s a better “businessman.” Dangote is a very honest businessman, he admitted he hadn’t heard of Lamu until January this year. This ignorance could be construed as a high risk appetite.

Wagging a finger, Dangote warned he was ready to deal with any “troublemakers” who came in the way of his Lamu project. I have no idea what troublemakers he had in mind, but I thought to myself:  If I went to Nigeria to invest and I waved a finger at the locals and dared them to cause trouble, because I was ready for them, what would be the source of such arrogance?

One might say money, but Dangoke has had lots of money all his life.  Senior counsel Paul Muite said it is “common sense” for an investor of any shade to secure their investment by addressing even the minutest of the concerns from the locals.

I was about to say common sense is not common, but I remembered that in Dangote, I was dealing with a dollar billionaire, and another billionaire in the making, in Prezzo Ruto. They don’t apply common sense. They apply something more sophisticated. That’s why there is such a small number of dollar billionaires on the continent.

I heard Prezzo Ruto commit to Dangote that he has secured his interests which, like the Tanga diatribe is only known to the Head of State. The preponderance of Prezzo Ruto forcing projects on the citizens, without their meaningful input suggests that a) Kenya is now considered the private property of Prezzo Ruto, b) Dangote has bought a piece of the firm or c) the duo have entered into a partnership to run Kenya Inc.