Tale of two Rutos: Battle of the Rift rages ahead of 2017

What you need to know:

  • For the past year, Governor Ruto has been more than keen to project the URP leader as being anti-devolution and an enemy who is fighting him using proxies due to his support for the Pesa Mashinani initiative which incidentally has endeared the governor to the opposition.
  • “Governor Ruto speaks his mind and is ready to put his political life on the line. That alone makes him very dangerous for the DP’s position as the Rift Valley king,” said Dr Oloo.
  • But Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen refuses to even put the two leaders on the same level, saying it is an exercise in futility.

It is a case of a kingmaker turning against the king.

This is because few politicians have fought for Deputy President William Ruto more passionately than Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto.

In  Deember 2010, the Chepalungu MP successfully moved a motion in Parliament to repeal the International Crimes Act to allow the Kenyan cases at the International Criminal Court to be tried in Kenya.

He did not hide the fact that the move was aimed to help his friend, Mr William Ruto, who was facing charges at ICC, and he defended Mr Ruto’s controversial decision in the Mau forest restoration.

Later, the man from Chepalungu would wage a national campaign against not only the ICC, which he termed a political court, but also for the Jubilee alliance in the 2013 General Election.

But not any more. Their relationship has changed dramatically and hit the point of no return last week when the governor demanded the resignation of the Deputy President and his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, following the formation of the Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) which brings together parties that constitute the ruling coalition.

“They have no business holding onto their seats after merging their parties without resigning from their individual parties,” he said.
Two weeks ago, the governor accused the DP of inciting Bomet residents to demonstrate against him.

SUPREMACY CONTEST

“Bomet County will not be run with instructions from Sugoi,” the governor said in clear reference to the home of the Deputy President.

The demonstration, led by MPs Bernard Bett (Bomet East) and Ronald Tonui (Bomet Central), was supposed to be about the disputed location of a new university, but the political overtones suggested a supremacy contest.

While the governor wants the university based in Sigor, a town some 30 km from Bomet, the lawmakers and other leaders want it set up in Bomet town.

The governor appears keen to create his political niche using the council of governors and the Pesa Mashinani campaign which he is leading. Those familiar with his thinking say he wants to rally the Kipsigis — the largest Kalenjin sub-group — around him and use it as a bargain chip. 

This effectively thrusts him into competition with the Deputy President who needs to retain his influence in a region whose voting muscle he used to negotiate a pre-election deal with President Kenyatta in 2013.

For the past year, Governor Ruto has been more than keen to project the URP leader as being anti-devolution and an enemy who is fighting him using proxies due to his support for the Pesa Mashinani initiative which incidentally has endeared the governor to the opposition.

But can the governor weather the storm in a contest with one of the most astute politicians in Kenya? 

Dr Adams Oloo, a University of Nairobi political science lecturer, said the governor is slowly carving out a niche for himself and that the Deputy President should be “very careful”.

“Governor Ruto speaks his mind and is ready to put his political life on the line. That alone makes him very dangerous for the DP’s position as the Rift Valley king,” said Dr Oloo.

“He seems to really control his county assembly. DP Ruto is better advised not to take the war to him or he risks lionising him,” Dr Oloo said. “If the people start to see that Governor Ruto can ably challenge DP Ruto’s authority, that perception alone dims the latter’s hopes of having the same support he had in the Rift in 2013.”

EXERCISE IN FUTILITY

But Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen refuses to even put the two leaders on the same level, saying it is an exercise in futility.

“There is not and there never has been anything like Governor Ruto versus William Ruto in Rift Valley. After all, Mr Ruto is just a governor of one of the 47 counties while the Deputy President wields power in all of them,” said Murkomen.

National Assembly Leader of Majority Aden Duale says URP has supporters across the country, and not just in the Rift Valley, and that a fight between the two Rutos is unlikely to injure the party’s fortunes.

“URP is not a South Rift party; it is a national party. Let him (governor) do what he wants in his county,” he told the Sunday Nation.
Like Mr Murkomen, Bomet Senator Wilfred Lesan thinks that his governor poses no threat to the DP. 

 “That is really a non-issue. There is no such thing as Ruto being a threat to the DP in any way,” he said.
His Kericho counterpart, Prof Paul Chepkwony, is confident they will survive the storm.

“We will push for what is rightfully ours and our people. It is the right thing to do,” Governor Chepkwony told a rally at Kenegut, Kericho County, last week.

Mr Ernest Cheruiyot, who led the group that visited Mr Ruto’s Sugoi home early this month, said that Governor Ruto was never part of the discussion.
“He is not such an important man that people will travel from Bomet to Eldoret to talk about him the whole day,” he said in an interview.

“He is, however, losing ground in his own county because of the archaic laws and the abrasive nature in which he runs Bomet,” said Mr Cheruiyot.