Why Kenya’s characterisation of Ruto as 'blameworthy' might land him 2022 presidency

Dr.William Ruto taking oath of office as Deputy President

The apparent verbal and institutional attacks on the person of the deputy president William Ruto seem to have fueled his political jet engine, thrusting him further ahead of other known and unknown 2022 presidential hopefuls.  

It would not be surprising to see the self-declared hustler, taking the oath of affirmations and uttering the words so help me God to the bewilderment of Baba and the entire stop-Ruto crusaders. Soon after he may also say Jameni acheni Mungu aitwe Mungu.

Some Kenyans have like the proverbial Jews cast the first stone at William. Chiefly accusing him of gross misconduct and grand corruption. Forgetting that other politicians have also gained from corruption.

Phrases like High Priest of Corruption, Arap Mashamba and many other colorful expressions have been used to describe the man whose single source of income was once selling chicken.

Dr. William Ruto sharing a light moment at his graduation ceremony

So bad is the name-calling that one could genuinely believe that the fresh graduate singlehandedly supervises the execution of corrupt deals in Kenya. But is that the reality? Wasn’t pre-Ruto Kenya just as corrupt?

Irony, just like Karma, is a bitch. What might have started out as character assassination is rapidly turning into character resuscitation. The DP is reaping bigtime from all the media attention, coming his way.

When there was dispute over the purchase of land on which Weston Hotel now rests, public perception was skewed against the DP.

During the Arror-Kimwarer mega dam puzzle, William and his henchmen unapologetically defended the dam project despite ODM leader Raila Odinga’s call for criminal investigations into the contracting.

It was hot news, some might say uhoro mwaki mwaki. Interviews were called for, summons were made, twitter blew up and fault finders had a field day.

When the sober Noordin Hajji, the zealous Twalib Mubarak at the EACC and the daring George Kinoti waged the war on corruption, MP Murkomen took issue with the manner in which it was done.

 

When Senator Orengo hinted an unprecedented ouster motion, it was the DP who was targeted. To date the motion hasn’t made it to the parliamentary order paper, Ruto’s popularity grew in leaps and bounds.

Dr. William Ruto addressing a gathering

Truth to tell, recently, he stretched the limit when he came to Waititu -BabaYao’s defense. You should have seen the delight on his face. He knew what to say and what he would gain by saying it.

That was when the nostalgic people of Kiambu County were hopelessly chanting Kaba Kabogo (Kabogo was better) following their Governor’s spectacular display of ‘ignorance’ on county expenditure.

The more blame we heap on the DP, the more his political ratings shoot up.

Psychologists argue that people blame others for their problems for the simple reason that it’s easy and feels good. This only works for a short time and once done, anger and despair is all there is.

Perhaps it's time we stop the blame and fault finding and focused more on solutions, because finding solutions to problems will guarantee us a much happier and less frustrated Kenya.