President gave best explanation so far on why he fell out with Ruto

President Uhuru Kenyatta addressing Jubilee Party delegates at the KICC, February 26, 2022. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta during the Sagana III Mount Kenya conclave last week gave the best possible answer to the question of the origin of his intense feud with Deputy President William Ruto.

Sagana State Lodge has acquired special status as a regional ‘palace’ where Uhuru holds in-house talks on weighty Mountain matters. Sagana has special ‘royal’ ambience, associated with England’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Colonial authorities built it as a wedding gift to Princess Elizabeth. But while she was Sagana, her father, George VI, died and she became queen. At independence, she gifted the ‘palace’ to Kenya. While Jomo Kenyatta did not use it, his son, Uhuru, has transformed it into a political ‘thingira’ where Mount Kenya leaders gather when trouble appears to smell.

The Uhuru presidency started in shaky ways. Big powers, led by Britain and the US had wanted UhuRuto to lose the 2013 presidential election and were so disappointed that there seemed to be an effort to create crises.

Somalia, for instance, seemingly urged by Euro-powers, developed an itch for maritime irredentism at Kenya’s expense. On their part, Uhuru and Ruto also showed weakness or lack of confidence by taking long to constitute the government.

They also looked like peas in a political pod, working together with Uhuru making such statements as ‘kumi kumi’. They appeared formidable as they entered the 2017 election which they won twice. They then shocked their followers by falling apart in 2018 as their dynamism crumbled and the centre could not hold.

There was protracted disbelief that the ‘dynamic duo’ was splitting and since then people have been asking, what had caused the fallout? Since Ruto repeatedly pleaded ignorance about the split, eyes turned to Uhuru to do the explaining, even as certain developments raised more questions. Uhuru reorganised the government in 2018 to 'trim down' his deputy and made Interior CS Fred Matiang'i a 'super minister'.

Those in the political know started talking of kieleweke, implying closeness to former PM Raila Odinga and that Ruto would have problems getting the presidency. William Kabogo, former Kiambu governor, warned Ruto not to expect to be given anything and to go out and look for votes.

When Uhuru advised people to take their grievances to Ruto if they see him 'tanga tangaring' in their neighbourhoods, the DP turned the advice into an assignment to inspect as many projects as possible. Thus, two rival movements emerged in Raila-leaning Kieleweke and Ruto-inclined Tanga Tanga. Both sides profusely pledged loyalty to Uhuru.

The two sides tested their might in by-elections. When Ruto showed interest in Kibra, ODM’s Babu Owino branded Kibra as Raila’s ‘bedroom’. He thus introduced the concept of political ‘bedrooms’.

That logic made the Mountain Uhuru’s political bedroom that unauthorised ‘men’ should not enter. Ruto’s repeated entering of Uhuru’s ‘bedroom’ was a sign of resistance to presidential wishes that pricked Uhuru into calling Mountain leadership meetings at Sagana.

During Sagana III, expectations were high that Uhuru would end rumours over the source of his quarrel with Ruto. He gave the best response so far.

Ruto, he explained, initially supported the Raila ‘handshake’ but thereafter opposed it. Uhuru saw BBI as a way of promoting security and peace, Ruto, saw it as a threat. This made the source of the feud the clash of strong-willed individuals who were locked in a political pod.

Since both wanted their conflicting ways on Raila to prevail, Ruto annoyed Uhuru by being defiant. Sagana III, therefore, explains how Raila became Uhuru’s big political brother as Ruto descended into ‘huyu kijana.’