All eyes of Ruto as Uhuru delivers Madaraka Day speech from State House

All eyes at State House’s Madaraka Day celebrations will be on Deputy President William Ruto (pictured) following his fallout with President Uhuru Kenyatta and emergent claims of a plot to weaken Jubilee Party Deputy Leader position.

The pair at the top of the country’s political leadership has not been seen together in public in the last one month, with the last publicised meeting being the national prayer day held at State House in April.

The whole of May was characterised by an all-out purge against Ruto’s allies in Jubilee party. Under fire politically, the DP ducked from major events, slowed down on his social media activities and scaled-down his hitherto unrivalled political activity.

Tongue-lashing

Ruto did not attend Labour Day Celebrations held at State House and is also said to have skipped several meetings of the National Security Council. He was also absent from the Jubilee Senate Parliamentary Group meeting that resulted in the kicking out of his allies from influential positions in the house.

Earlier this week, President Kenyatta issued a pointed tongue-lashing to his deputy while at the same time justifying the ongoing purge in his party.

“Do not let your ambitions of tomorrow cloud what you must do today. What you do today is what shall determine where you shall be tomorrow. That’s all and it is as basic as that to me,” he told NTV in an interview and added:

“I do not have that much time to go and so I cannot continue pleading. So if you feel you are not able to work in tandem with my agenda, please then, why don’t you let me put somebody who is eager and keen to help me fulfill that agenda.”

Early campaigns

Before these events, the DP had persisted in political activities which his boss dubbed “early campaigns”. His key allies even gave ultimatums to the President.

His outright dismissal of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) - a product of the handshake deal between the President and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga - is also said to have exacerbated tension between the hitherto bosom buddies.

In March, Ruto dismissed BBI as an “act of political conmanship” despite the same process being largely driven by the president and Raila.

According to a document posted by Ruto’s digital wingman Dennis Itumbi on Friday, Uhuru’s men are now plotting to split the Deputy Party Leader post held by Ruto into three - operations, programmes and strategy and policy.

Party Deputy Secretary-General and Soy MP Caleb Kositany claimed that the plans are part of a wider scheme by powerful people around the presidency to control the 2022 succession battle.

He also said that any such changes would need to be endorsed by key party organs. 

“They want to control who becomes President in 2022. What they are doing is clearly illegal,” said the MP, whose position is also said to be up for grabs in the new power line up.

“I’m still the deputy secretary-general, and anything outside that is illegal,” he added.

Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju, however, denied any such schemes.

Private-meeting

In 1966, Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga left Kanu in a huff after the then party foxes watered down his position as party vice-president by creating several other regional party vice-presidents. Angry that he had been rendered a squatter in a party he found, Mzee Odinga walked out to form Kenya People Union (KPU).

He would stay in the political cold for decades after his party was banned. The octogenarian eventually managed to register the Opposition Forum for Restoration of Democracy (Ford) together with other like-minded politicians after the re-introduction of multi-party politics in 1991.

Today’s event at State House comes in the wake of claims of a Saturday seven-hour private meeting between the pair which could neither be confirmed nor denied by Kenyatta’s Spokesperson Kanze Dena-Mararo. Ruto’s spokesperson Emmanuel Tallam was equally quite economical:

“I am not aware of that meeting. If there was one, it must be one of those regular ones between the President and his deputy,” said Tallam.

However, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi said he was aware that the two met from morning to evening.

“We know there are those who do not want to hear that the two meet, they rejoice in the perceived sour relationship. The two met, they have the mandate to deliver and they must work together, I am not, however privy to what they discussed,” said Sudi.