Inside Ruto's failed plan to rope in Uhuru in Vision 2060 plan

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta's rejection of President William Ruto’s ambitious  Beyond Vision 2030 Plan, it has emerged,  is the trigger of Ruto’s outburst against him, according to multiple sources.

According to multiple sources from both Ruto and Uhuru’s camps, the President had unsuccessfully persuaded Uhuru to take the lead in the upcoming public participation for his National Development Charter to shape the conversations that will culminate in anchoring the proposed plan into law.

The President had indirectly wanted Uhuru to take charge of the project, but the former President was advised to decline as that would be seen as a subtle endorsement of Ruto’s re-election game plan as well as limit his engagements with the Opposition where he serves as the chairperson of the Azimio La Umoja Council.

“The former President had been approached for about four times to lead the Beyond Vision 2030 conversations. Ruto had maintained that the initiative was not a political scheme but a long-term development framework but upon consultations, Uhuru objected to the offer,” a source close to Uhuru revealed.

According to the source, Uhuru’s advisors resolved that, contrary to Ruto’s insistence that the initiative would be apolitical, the conversations surrounding the Beyond Vision 2030 would extend to Ruto’s re-election a move that would be interpreted to mean that the former President was now supporting Ruto’s campaign.

 Another source from Ruto’s side noted, ‘The President wanted to come up with a process akin to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that saw Uhuru rope in his former political nemesis, the late Raila Odinga and which formed the basis of Raila’s Presidential bid in 2022. Akin to the BBI initiative, Ruto intended to reach out to Uhuru and later other Opposition leaders such as Wiper Patriotic Front Kalonzo Musyoka and Jubilee Deputy Party leader Fred Matiang’i.”

Ruto's strategy was to weaken the Opposition using his ‘development framework’ and have an easy pass in next year’s general election, sources added.

Although the President did not expressly name Uhuru, he announced on Thursday last week that he had consulted current and former leaders to shape the long-term development framework.

He said the current and former national leaders, scholars, and experts to lead the discussions for Kenya beyond the conclusion of the Vision 2030 blueprint which he said aimed to chart a 30-year course toward first-world economic status. Curiously, however, the President launchd the proposals and the beginning of the public participation exercise without a committee to undertake the exercise.

“I have sought the counsel of current and former national leaders, political leaders, scholars...It was in that spirit that I invited Prof Hiroyuki Hino, Professor Anyang’ Nyong’o and their distinguished colleagues to begin examining Kenya’s future beyond Vision 2030,’ he said.

Hours before Ruto announced his vision on Thursday, Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had gone to the media and let the cat out of the bag, claiming Ruto wanted to appoint Uhuru to lead the plan, warning him that accepting the offer would lead to a backlash from Kenyans.

"We are telling my elder brother Uhuru Kenyatta, don't allow yourself to be dragged into that mess and this move would damage your standing with the public as well as your legacy,” Gachagua said.

Sources connect Ruto’s outbursts against Uhuru’s objection to lead the national conversation since the President reportedly wanted to remove his predecessor from the 2027 game plan, but with his refusal, the President may have decided to make him his boogeyman.

On Thursday, furious Ruto labeled Uhuru as a failed leader and accused him of sponsoring his rivals ahead of next year’s polls.

According to Ruto, Uhuru was working behind the scenes to mobilize forces against him ahead of the 2027 general election. The president told the United opposition that their alleged finances cannot match up to his.

He criticized Uhuru's legacy, arguing that the former administration failed to deliver key promises like affordable housing, universal healthcare and education.

“Yule sponsor wao si alishindwa na maneno ya affordable housing, si alishindwa na mambo ya universal health coverage, si alishindwa na maneno ya kusomesha watoto wetu?” Ruto said.

However, the Opposition chiefs led by Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) leader Kalonzo Musyoka accused Ruto of trying to deflect from accountability by introducing Uhuru as a bogeyman while he was not a Presidential candidate in next year’s general election.

According to Gachagua, Uhuru left the country economically stable, with a working National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and a stable education sector with a sound capitation program, accusing Ruto of abandoning the gains established through Uhuru’s administration.

“Uhuru left a peaceful country but Ruto has converted the country into a country of goons who are now wreaking havoc in the country, they are the ones in charge of this country, he has suspended the constitution and the rule of law and has introduced crooks who are running the affairs of this country,” Gachagua said.

The Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader claimed Ruto replaced NHIF with the Social Hospital Insurance Fund (SHIF), which was not addressing the insurance needs of patients, while accusing him of allegedly dismantling the education sector by collapsing the University funding model, among other policy shifts which he claimed had made Kenyan’s lives unbearable.

“The problems you have found yourself in were not caused by Uhuru, they are self-inflicted. President Uhuru never advised you to abduct and kill the Gen-Zs. He bequeathed you a very peaceful country where the rule of law was in operation. Four years down the line this is a country of goons. Goons have taken over the national police service. They work alongside police officers and nobody is safe with this country,” he said.

Gachagua accused Ruto of trying to engage in diversionary tactics to shape the political narrative and drive Kenyans away from addressing his shortcomings for the four years he has been in office.

“The debate in Kenya today is what is Ruto's performance for four years, his lies his deception, destruction of institutions bringing the economy to a halt, that is a discussion and Ruto is in usual style try to divert attention by attacking Uhuru so that the people of Kenya can abandon that debate and start defending Uhuru and castigating him but he cannot divert the attention of the people of Kenya from that debate,’ he said.

In a separate event in Kilifi, Kalonzo maintained that he had advised Uhuru to ignore Ruto and leave him to politically deal with him, saying Ruto was in overdrive to drag the Former President into the political mud.

“I have urged former President Uhuru to keep off; he has been the President, I don’t want him to be dragged into the political mud, let me fight Ruto. There is no need of blaming Uhuru; as opposed to blaming Uhuru, Ruto should blame me for his political woes,” he said.

Political analysts and commentators believe Ruto’s decision to openly accuse Uhuru of sponsoring puppets to face him in the ballot was a well-calculated political card to consolidate his Rift Valley backyard by presenting himself as an exposed man who was surrounded by powerful forces and who needed community backing to surmount his challenges.

According to Idris Ihachi, a political commentator, Ruto’s choice of venue to attack Uhuru was an ethnic card to solicit a sympathy vote from his community in a bid to woo them to support his re-election bid.

“Why doesn’t Ruto attack Uhuru when he visits Mt. Kenya? Because the politics changes with the audience. In Nandi, Uhuru and Kikuyus can be turned into convenient enemies. In Mt. Kenya, that same strategy would be political suicide,’ he said.

Ihachi added “Ruto’s greatest political weapon has always been division: create an enemy, mobilize a community against it, then present himself as its defender. His 2022 “hustler vs dynasties” strategy clearly benefited from anti-Uhuru sentiment in Mt. Kenya. The question is: without tribal and divisive politics, what exactly is left of the strategy?”

Dr Peter Mbae, the National Secretary for Economic and Planning in the DCP party, opined that the President was only dragging Uhuru to woo his community and to incite his natives against Gachagua’s upcoming rally in the Rift Valley.

“He has accused other politicians of playing tribal politics, but that is exactly what he was doing while dragging Uhuru’s name in Uasin Gishu county,” Dr Mbae noted.

He however agreed that Uhuru’s shadow looms large even in next year’s general election, and Ruto may want to drag it to discourage him from participating in active politics as Kenyans would listen to his advice after failing him in the 2022 general election.

“Attacking Uhuru and the so-called dynasties may have stirred emotions and won him votes in 2022, but his latest outbursts about Uhuru funding the Opposition and other cock and bull stories will not work for Kenyans,” Dr Mbae said.