Matiang’i elevation a mere gadfly to Ruto’s ambitions

This was vintage William Ruto. On January 24, the Deputy President in his Twitter handle urged officers at all levels to align operations to President Uhuru’s Kenyatta’s order establishing committees to oversee government development programmes.

That might have sounded like a routine exhortation from the Deputy President for public servants to perform.

Nothing routine, however, when it came just a day after the five daily papers came out with screaming headlines concluding that Dr Ruto was the loser on President Kenyattta’s Executive Order establishing the National Development Implementation and Communication Committee chaired by CS Fred Matiang’i.

The conclusion from media and analysts was that by chairing a committee of fellow ministers and reporting directly to the President, and also being the focal point for reports form project implementation committees, Dr Matiang’i had not just been placed a rung above his colleagues, but been elevated into a ‘super minister’.

Dr Matiang’i was already one of the most powerful and visible Cabinet Secretaries by dint of the expansive and strategic Interior and Coordination of National Government docket.

To some, the added responsibility makes him akin to a de facto prime minister.

Hence the conclusion that the arrangement not only elevated Dr Matiang’i to the status of Mr Kenyatta’s most trusted confidant, but by extension also diluted the role and influence of Dr Ruto.

While many of his supporters were angry, shaken and confused by a development which seemed to signal that the DP was being edged out, Dr Ruto — in public at least — remained his stoical self.

Instead of fighting back or coming out defiant, Dr Ruto responded with a tweeter message urging compliance with the new structure.

LEGACY

Such messaging has been typical of the DP’s demeanour ever since it started becoming apparent that he and Mr Kenyatta were not reading from the same script on many sensitive issues.

The point of divergence indicating a cooling of the famous bromance that clinched victory at the 2013 presidential election and a repeat in 2017 seems to centre on competing priorities.

In his second and final term, Mr Kenyatta is focussed on building a legacy around winning the fight against corruption, and finding a cure to perennial political conflict through the Building Bridges ‘handshake’ with (former) opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Dr Ruto’s sole focus is on his 2022 presidential bid, which for him should be oiled by reciprocity from the political pact under which he put on hold his ambitions to back Mr Kenyatta.

Ever since the President on securing a second term launched a new war on corruption and mended fences with Mr Odinga, Dr Ruto’s supporters have been uncomfortable.

Some of his more vocal backers have openly expressed fears that the President is set on betraying Dr Ruto on the Jubilee party succession pact, citing the friendship with Mr Odinga, as well as the anti-corruption drive they claim targets the DP’s allies.

Although Dr Ruto has also spoken out against a referendum to reshape the governance structure expected to come out of the Building Bridges initiative, he has refrained from openly criticising his boss or questioning his intentions.

HUMILIATION

Indeed, there are indications that when some of his agitated lieutenants have threatened to launch a direct war against Mr Kenyatta or his closest advisers, the DP has told them to hold their horses.

The interventions are deliberate. Dr Ruto has stated in the past that if there is a lesson he learnt from former President Daniel arap Moi, it is the value of patience, humility and loyalty.

He has referred to the period when as vice president, Mr Moi endured provocation, harassment and humiliation from the power-structure around President Jomo Kenyatta.

He did not challenge his tormentors, hit out in defiance or quit, but remained unquestionably loyal and subservient, eventually reaping the rewards on ascension to presidency after Mzee’s death in 1978.

Mr Moi remains the only vice president to have succeed his boss. All others have fallen by the wayside, save for Mr Mwai Kibaki who was hounded out by Mr Moi in 1988, only to decamp to opposition with the return of multi-partyism in 1990.

He earned revenge by winning the presidency in 2002 at the expense of Mr Moi’s hand-picked successor — Uhuru Kenyatta.

Dr Ruto has often described himself as nothing more than President Kenyatta’s mtu wa mkono or spanner boy.

Far from it. Unlike the hapless deputies under the old constitution whom the president could hire and fire at will, Dr Ruto serves in the presidency in his own right.

He was the first Deputy President to be elected alongside the President as a running mate.

CAMPAIGNS

More than that, he was not just President Kenyatta’s sidekick, but a politician with a powerful vote bank that was essential to the Jubilee ticket.

Dr Ruto still controls his solid base, but in eyeing his own bid has moved aggressively to capture some of Mr Kenyatta’s populous constituency and also eat into opposition strongholds.

He knows Mr Kenyatta cannot dismiss him. He also knows it is unlikely that the President would activate the sort of crude manoeuvres employed by Mr Moi against powerless vice presidents like Kibaki and his short-lived successor Josephat Karanja.

With that in mind, Dr Ruto would probably treat the elevation of the aggressive Dr Matiang’i as a mere distraction.

While he might have been cut out of the loop on exclusion from Dr Matiang’i’s Cabinet committee, there is no evidence to the suggestion that he will no longer be able travel around the country launching and inspecting projects.

He has been doing that as Deputy President and not because he controlled any Cabinet committee; and there is really nothing to stop him continuing with what are essentially campaign forays that take credit for ongoing projects that have long been on the programme.

The worry might be Dr Matiang’i, who has never been shy to demonstrate his powers as minister in charge of police and the administrative machinery, takes the new order as the cue to cut the DP down to size or to build his own political profile.

AMBITIONS

In private conversations, Dr Matiang’i resolutely declaims any political ambitions.

Power, however, is an aphrodisiac. Even before the new stature, he had already become the focal point for politicians from his region despite the theoretically apolitical function of today’s Cabinet Secretaries.

At the 2018 elections Dr Matiang’i evidently enjoyed his assigned role mobilising the Kisii vote for Jubilee, and at the national level using, or misusing, the security and administration machinery to harass the opposition.

It would not be a surprise if he becomes to fancy himself as a contender for high political office.

He now has the perfect platform, but would be wise to look back at history and the succession of administrators and politicians bestowed great powers by the system, only to be brought crashing down once no longer of use.

[email protected]. @MachariaGaitho