Why Uhuru and Ruto should remain 'enemies' until after elections

In March 2018, Kenyans were shocked by unexpected "life-changing" news that President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga were uniting through a "Handshake" .

The watershed decision saved the country from the edge of disastrous collapse. Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga argues that without a handshake, the government was headed for collapse.

The handshake altered the course of Kenyan history. It defined the political future of this country. It was meant to separate and identify two forces of political divide that Kenyans would subscribe to.

This is what we call historical predestination - a doctrine which argues that history at times selects those leaders it intends to save and use to perform or fulfil certain things. The question is, do such individuals make history or do they simply gallop on assemblage of forces that tend to redefine their society and time?

Many people including the clergy, politicians, international mediators and even traditional healers have offered to mediate between Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto so that they can unite again and provide a peaceful environment for the government to function. These attempts, however, have been in futility. During Jamhuri Day, a picture of Ruto and the president outside State House went viral, signaling some hope to Ruto’s fanatical followers. 

Social history

In my view, Uhuru and Ruto should remain ‘enemies’ at least until end of next year for democracy to thrive and for presidential elections to be held smoothly. I may be wrong but in my understanding, the handshake was causal determinism or rather a necessity that would constitute the culmination of events that will in future be rooted in our social history.

As such the handshake is a glue in the political history of Kenya. In directionality of things and in our case here, how would we have imagined the Kenyan political scene without, for example, Raila?

The handshake was poised to happen and it must continue so for some reasons. For one, can you imagine, Uhuru shaking hands with Ruto in a big ceremony attended by local and international media houses? This act would automatically sound a death knell on the forces currently shaping in our politics. Secondly, it would bring confusion for Uhuru as well as Ruto and Raila.

Above all, Ruto, just like Raila. Ruto’s popularity hinges on this handshake. If he shook hands with Uhuru, he will lose sympathy votes which is a deux ex machina for his campaigns and also lose support in Central Kenya. 

We learn from themes of ‘chance and necessity’ in historical philosophy that history is replete with episodes or circumstances where certain things had to happen in order to fulfil or perpetuate certain forces or periods that direct the course of things. 

For instance, the assassinations Archduke Ferdinand – the heir to the Austrian throne-and his wife, Sophie in Sarajevo, by a second year university student had to happen in order to set the stage for the World War One to occur. In other words, let the story continue.

Dr Chacha teaches at Laikipia University