Raila-Ruto feud fueling fresh political wars

Raila Odinga in crisis is like a fish in water. He swiftly glides through torrents and turns political misfortune into gold. But William Ruto is the complete opposite. In times of crisis he is like an impala that has heard rumours of a pride of predators nearby. I say this for two reasons.

The first is that, when faced with political crisis Ruto is like William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. His wife, Lady Macbeth, described his face as “an open book, where men may read strange matters.” When under political siege as he has been for the past one year, the Deputy President’s face has been an open book. The distress, discomfort and awkwardness is obvious from his demeanour. The problem with this is that when your enemies watch you squirming, it emboldens them. In political wars, detaching oneself from the chaos of the battlefield is crucial. Since, March 9 last year, Raila has had a field day on Ruto’s account. And he is not the only one. In newspapers, political caricatures of Ruto are drawn with permanent tears streaming down his face to date. This is from a one-time display of emotion back in 2013.