Politically speaking, Ruto is only ‘bad’ because he is on the other side.

Martha Comes Home

In the wake of the 2007/08 election fiasco and the subsequent bloodbath that saw the demise of over 1000 Kenyans as well as forceful evictions and rape of hundreds of women, Martha Karua, being a PNU stalwart then, was one of the most despicable and insufferable figures among the then ODM supporters. Being an indefatigable fighter, Karua stoically stood her ground and vehemently defended the widely disputed 2007/08 Kibaki win.

According to her then, the claims of massive rigging by the opposition were just that, pure baseless claims aimed at destabilizing the country by a much disenfranchised opposition. To Karua, PNU had won the gruelling election duel, pure and simple. Her unwavering stance then earned her an un-envious position of being part of the reasons that plunged Kenya into the subsequent nightmare that still dogs the country to date.

Fast forward through a flurry of events to today and Karua finds herself marooned in the same fold with the very same leaders of the opposition whom she had colluded with her former PNU loyalists to defraud of their rightfully earned shot at the presidency and the accompanying power strappings. And just by finding herself aligned with the opposition, the iron lady of Kenya is now a widely acclaimed democrat, a defender of the rights of the oppressed, a champion in the fight against impunity and the rot within the government. In the eyes of the CORD fanatics, she is a champion worth composing songs about. Kenyans have a short memory, you know.

Ruto is now the devil reincarnate.

Today, William Samoei Ruto, a former ODM stalwart and a one-time key ally and supporter of the opposition leader Raila Odinga, is the most despised and scorned political figure among the CORD zealots. Well, him together with one Moses Kuria and the presumptuous Aden Duale who has a proclivity for ‘’diarrhoea-ring’’ through the mouth, so to speak. In the eyes of CORD extremists, Ruto is the most corrupt individual this country has ever seen. Ruto is the number one embodiment of impunity. The self-proclaimed hustler is a land grabber known for his penchant for lobbing teargas canisters at innocent primary school pupils after grabbing their playground. Ruto is a propagandist and the epitome of everything that is wrong with the current government. Why? Because he is on the ‘wrong’ side of the political landscape where his wild well-orchestrated political propaganda machinations are benefiting the Jubilee government and not CORD.

Granted, there may be some form of truth behind the myriads of accusations levelled against the DP. But, pray do tell, which politician in this country worth a cent does not have a track record sprinkled with strings of dirty accusations of impropriety? Ruto has been accused of ‘eating’ maize, grabbing private and public land and killing witnesses to his land case. Uhuru Kenyatta has been accused of committing crimes against humanity by funding Mungiki during the PEV. Raila has been accused of defrauding the Luo community of Kisumu Molasses Plant, contributing to the woes of Mumias Sugar and bungling the kazi kwa vijana’ initiative. Kalonzo too has been accused of grabbing NYS land. Mudavadi has been accused of being one of the godfathers of ‘G7’, a group of Asian businessmen who had monopoly of contracts in Western Kenya. Moses Wetangula had to resign as a Foreign Affairs Minister in the wake of accusations of corruption involving irregular purchase of embassy land in Japan and other deals. So, the question that begs answering is, who is clean in Kenya?

What if Ruto re-joins forces with Raila?

They say in politics there are no permanent enemies or friends. And anything can happen. Even the much loathed Aden Duale may find himself sharing the same political bed with Raila. So, if tomorrow, the whole nation was to wake up to the unlikely yet probable news that one William Ruto, a prodigal son of ODM, found his way back into the CORD fraternity after striking a nefarious political arrangement in the middle of the night with Raila, as is the wont of many a political alliances in Kenya. How would the opposition fanatics perceive him? The answer to that is so obvious it hurts! Of course in their eyes, he would instantly transform from the much loathed land grabber to a political knight in shining armour dashing to the rescue of the Kenyan voter in distress. Ruto would be an instant star and the right person to work with Raila in combating the amorphous dragons of corruption, abuse of office, funds mismanagement and impunity that notably overshadows the life of every other politician and their henchmen. Who knows, some opportunistic musician might even take it a notch higher and compose a ballad in his name!

What does it all mean? Simple! In Kenya, you are only a defender of the status-quo when you are on the opposing side of the political divide. You are only corrupt when your corrupt ways benefit the other political wing. For truth be said, every other politician masquerading as the true agent of change from whichever political divide is dogged by a string of corruption cases, accusations or allegations. Switch political allegiance and immediately, all your previous political messes are forgotten in a flash.