GAITHO: Tell Ruto brigade that political pacts are made to be broken

We are being reminded every day that political pacts are made to be broken.

In the past, it was his predecessors and rivals who gained notoriety for walking out of solemn promises at the slightest excuse.

Today, it is President Uhuru Kenyatta under the radar on the likelihood of his reneging on the deal to support the succession bid by his deputy, Mr William Ruto.

As he considers his options, President Kenyatta might want to think back to how others in the past handled political pacts and consider whether his legacy will include joining the roll of dishonour.

He may recall that his predecessor, President Mwai Kibaki, rode to power in 2002 on the promise to create the post of Prime Minister for the forces led by Mr Raila Odinga, who had walked out of Kanu to ensure a runaway victory for the National Rainbow Coalition and bring to a shuddering halt the Independence party’s four-decade power monopoly.

CASUALTIES

Mr Kenyatta will remember that he was amongst the casualties as Kanu’s defeat also marked the humiliation of his first presidential election foray.

He might also bear in mind that opposition leader Odinga, the old rival he is striking a new pact with, has a long history of broken political promises.

Germane for now might be that he was seen to have betrayed the Opposition by jumping into bed with President Daniel arap Moi’s Kanu after his 1997 electoral defeat, but all was forgiven after he engineered the ruling party’s destruction from within.

More recently, Mr Odinga has walked back on promises to hand the baton to his opposition colleagues after presidential election defeats — first with the Cord alliance after the 2013 poll, and now likely with the Nasa coalition following the 2017 contest.

My favourite description of the culture of broken political promises was provided way back by President Moi.

DEFECTION

In the late 1990s, he engineered the defection of former Kajiado North MP John Keen from Mr Kibaki’s Democratic Party, then the Official Opposition.
When Mr Keen publicly complained at a rally in Kajiado that the promised rewards had not been delivered, Mr Moi responded with a line from his book of courtship: When wooing a girl, you promise her the sun, the moon and the stars. Once she’s safely ‘in the box’, the promises are redundant.

Well, not exactly in those words, but that was the import of his words of wisdom.

If President Kenyatta wants to be remembered as a man of his word, a man of honour, he has no choice but to back Mr Ruto’s nomination for the Jubilee Party 2022 presidential election ticket.

He made a promise that was unveiled publicly and he has openly pledged to reciprocate and support Mr Ruto’s bid to succeed him at State House.

He also knows that he would never have won the presidency had it not been for the undiluted backing of Mr Ruto and his sizeable regional support base. He owes his deputy big time.

BIG DEBT

However, there is a big caveat: Mr Kenyatta owes a big debt but repayment would, obviously, be conditional on Mr Ruto keeping his side of the bargain.

There would be cause for rethink if the Deputy President is busy sabotaging the President by fomenting rebellions in his backward, resisting his key agenda items such as the fight against corruption and the quest for national peace and reconciliation, and diverting focus from the government development programme to premature campaigns for 2022.

The other issue is that the debt is not transferable. Mr Kenyatta can give his vote to Mr Ruto and campaign for him but cannot guarantee that his central Kenya bastions will follow suit.

President Kenyatta was sworn into office as an individual. Power and perks of office were not shared with the rest of his regional constituency.

PRIVATE PACTS

Those who voted for Mr Kenyatta out of ethnic loyalty are not bound by any private pacts he signed with Mr Ruto. However, they also cannot be bullied or coerced against supporting Mr Ruto if they so wish.

To that end, the Mt Kenya Foundation, Kikuyu Council of Elders, the Gikuyu Embu Meru Association (Gema) and other self-appointed meddlers have absolutely no business dictating against support for Mr Ruto.

The argument that the people of central Kenya must repay a “debt” to Mr Odinga, first because his father supported Uhuru’s father rise to the presidency, is as fallacious as the argument that the people owe Mr Ruto.

The wider community cannot be bound to pay Kenyatta family debts.

Mr Odinga should also be wary of imposters and fraudsters who pretend to provide political direction for the community but actually have negligible influence.

[email protected]. Twitter: @MachariaGaitho