Uhuru Kenyatta is clear winner in Raila Odinga and William Ruto brawl

What you need to know:

  • The long and short of it is that the duo is most probably fighting a losing battle.
  • Like in the 2013 election outcome, the clear winner of any war between the two querulous politicians will still be Mr Kenyatta.

William Ruto has challenged Raila Odinga to a political duel. Sit back and watch the grudge match of the century.

On Kenya’s arena of political brawls, you won’t come across other two fighters ever so willing to throw the kitchen sink.

Mr Ruto, the Deputy President, has become increasingly moody in recent days, the weight of one scandal accusation after another seemingly getting the better of him.

Mr Odinga is a battle-hardened oppositionist with all the time in the world to pick a fight with his rivals, and he is known to pull no punches.

To cap it all, the two have a previous. As prime minister, Mr Odinga at one time sacked Mr Ruto from the Cabinet over corruption allegations.

Mr Ruto got his chance to serve up revenge cold, bolting out of Mr Odinga’s party and propping up Mr Uhuru Kenyatta to defeat the Cord leader in the last presidential election.

In the run-up to the 2013 elections, Mr Ruto made his personal goal clear in that famous “I don’t know who will be president, but I know who will not be president” statement.

OPEN HOSTILITIES

The resumption of open hostilities between the two former allies suggests that Mr Odinga will love the ring of that statement in the countdown to 2022 when Mr Ruto hopes to ascend to the Presidency.

The long and short of it is that the duo is most probably fighting a losing battle.

Like in the 2013 election outcome, the clear winner of any war between the two querulous politicians will still be Mr Kenyatta who, in his 2017 re-election campaign, will be relishing a rematch with an opponent in the form of Mr Odinga gasping for probably his last political breath.

Mr Odinga is widely expected to vie for the Presidency for the fourth time, having come close in 2007 with Mr Ruto’s backing and struggled five years later without it.

A battle-weary Ruto also strengthens Mr Kenyatta’s hand to finally put his deputy in his place — that of a junior partner in the Jubilee coalition, not the co-President his followers imagine he is.

The recent anti-corruption purge in which Mr Ruto’s side of the coalition suffered heavy casualties was only the first salvo.

One only needed to study the Deputy President’s body language at the public meeting in Bomet last Sunday to understand that he is painfully coming to terms with the reality of his declining power.

Far from the boisterous undisputed king of the Rift Valley who had introduced Mr Kenyatta to his supporters in the run-up to 2013 — on his terms — Mr Ruto cut a rather subdued figure, relying on the President to reassure his people that they were still friends and to protect him from his rivals.

God knows if a heavily scandalised and politically limping Mr Ruto will still be useful to the President’s re-election bid in 2017.

But it is safe to bet that, with Mr Odinga also in the mood for revenge, the Deputy President will be damaged goods by the time he arrives at the 2022 General Election.

Otieno Otieno is chief sub-editor, Business Daily; [email protected]; Twitter: @otienootieno