Ruto dared his gods and now it's time for payback

By Otuma Ongalo

Have the gods punished William Samoei Ruto for having been a victim of a sin the ancient Greeks called hubris?

And if the gods are to blame, are they supernatural ones or the gods of our times?

There is no doubt that the rising fortunes of Ruto took a nosedive following the court ruling that he should be tried for fraud and his subsequent suspension from the Cabinet.

The suspension has heralded a significant low for a politician who has been riding on the crest of political wave with eyes firmly focused on the jewel in political crown come 2012 General Election.

His quest has been buoyed by a sizeable tribal following and political sycophants hoping to benefit from the spoils of his expected fortunes.

In Ruto’s tale are matters judicial and political so intricately woven that you cannot talk of one without mentioning the other. And that is why he can afford to claim, without blinking, that his tribulations are handiworks of his political tormentors. It would have been a veritable claim had it not have been turned into a clichÈ by almost every politician who finds himself on the wrong side of the law.

The rise and near fall of Samoei follows the plots of many heroes in Greek mythologies who met their downfall due to hubris – the greatest of the cardinal sins in that era.

Hubris has been described as wanton insolence or arrogance due to excessive pride or passion, especially towards the gods. It is about temptation of the ancient mortals or ordinary wananchi who, finding themselves in roles of leadership or their own successes, started to view themselves as impervious to disaster and, even worse, challenged the gods and subsequently drew their wrath.

One of the cases of hubris in ancient Greek literature is that of Icarus, who used wings made from feathers and wax by his father, Daedalus, to escape from prison. But, intoxicated by the achievement of the flight, Icarus disregarded his father’s warning and flew so high that the sun melted his wings and he fell to his death.

In another case, Arachne challenged goddess Athena to a weaving contest and ended up being turned into a spider.

The Greek poet Pindar reminded the leaders at moments of triumph that they were mortal and that all mortal glory is fleeting.

Like Icarus, Ruto has been flying and quite often venturing too far for the safety of the wax in his wings. By turning his back against ODM and even working against the party he has, literally, bitten the hand that feeds him. When his political clout gained momentum, Samoei felt bigger than the party and his followers and the goddess of power was not impressed.

Using a loyal tribal following as a bargaining chip, he has easily had his way in ODM through a litany of demands. However, he pushed his gods’ benevolence too far when he demanded that he should be exempted from being subjected to the laws of the land in a case that has been hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles since 2004. The goddess of justice was not amused for only gods are exempted from earthly laws.

And the goddess of nature was not impressed that the man who has immensely benefited from its magnanimity has been against a major plan to save one of the landmarks of Mother Nature — the Mau Forest Complex.

As the famous adage goes, the voice of the people is the voice of God. Recently, the people of Kenya expressed the voice of God by overwhelmingly endorsing the new Constitution. Part of the voice of God in this document, which Ruto vehemently opposed, demands that a public officer charged with corruption should step aside. Before his suspension, he laughed off the directive and God was not happy. Well, the rest is history.

—The writer is Senior Editor, Production and Quality, at The Standard