Five things we learnt from Uhuru Show last week

From left: Former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto during the 16th annual Kenya National Prayer breakfast at the Safari Park Hotel on May 31, 2018. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION

What you need to know:

  • The anti-graft war declared by Mr Kenyatta has recently claimed the scalp of a principal secretary and the chief executive of the NYS.
  • But the public mood remains ambivalent amid reports about the existence of some sacred cows in government.

  • Another of the big losers of the anti-graft war has to be William Ruto, the Deputy President.

  • Long used to sharing credit for every bit of the Jubilee achievement, Mr Ruto is hardly being mentioned for any major role in this one.

The major events of this past week can be safely summed up as the Uhuru Kenyatta Show. From his sick joke about the Deputy President’s early campaign movements at Nairobi’s Jacaranda Grounds to the impromptu apologies parade of the 2017 election’s bitter rivals at Safari Park Hotel and the tough talk on corruption during the Madaraka Day celebrations in Meru, the President was the star in the high drama that also gave Kenyans a glimpse of the State of the Nation. Here are five things we learnt.

1. Kenyans want bigger fish

The anti-graft war declared by Mr Kenyatta has recently claimed the scalp of a principal secretary and the chief executive of the National Youth Service. But the public mood remains ambivalent amid reports about the existence of some sacred cows in government. The portrayal of a young woman with a pretty face from Naivasha as the poster girl of the NYS scandal has heightened suspicion of a grand cover-up.

2. EACC losing relevance

Forget the Ngiritas — the Naivasha family that had four of its members dragged to court and remanded over the NYS scam. The biggest casualty of the ongoing anti-graft fight is the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) which has found itself very much sidelined. Embarrassed at having had to fire some ministers using a corruption dossier that the EACC later admitted was half-baked, the President has demonstrated his distrust of the Eliud Wabukala-led commission by keeping faith with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the new Director of Public Prosecutions this time round. 

3. Ruto snubbed

Another of the big losers of the anti-graft war has to be William Ruto, the Deputy President. Long used to sharing credit for every bit of the Jubilee administration’s achievement, real or perceived, with the President, Mr Ruto is hardly being mentioned for any major role in this one. It was noteworthy that the best public compliments the Deputy President received from his boss last week had to do with his kutangatanga (loitering) habits.

4. The handshake effect

It has been hard to see how the March 9 handshake between the President and opposition leader Raila Odinga had anything to do with the fight against corruption despite the latter playing it up in his public pronouncements about the deal. Well, the handshake is playing some role after all. At least it has robbed corruption suspects and architects the chance to politicise the crackdown. In the past, one only needed to characterise any official corruption allegation as a grand scheme by the opposition or Mr Odinga to bring down the government and the ruling party machinery or a whole ethnic community would rally to his or her defence.

5. Kalonzo’s handshake moment

Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, he of the nitapita katikati yao fame, has done it again. He hasn’t concealed his wish to have a public handshake with the President. He finally got it at the National Prayer Breakfast last week. 

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