Ruto’s Call On A Bipartisan Process Anchored In Law Is The Way To Go
The Mt Kenya Times 
President William Ruto
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- Ruto spoke in the wake of Raila’s threat to resume demonstrations. This is because he felt that the President was not taking seriously the grievances he had raised.
- This turnaround was ill-advised as it exposed him as a dishonesty person and give credit to claims by the leaders of Kenya Kwanza that he thrived in chaos, bloodshed and destruction of properties. Ultimately, his eyes were trained on ‘Nusu Mkate’.
- In a televised address to the nation, Ruto, who had a few days earlier, extended an olive branch to him, noted. We have read and perused the demands raised by the opposition. As a government, we are ready for dialogue and insisted this has to be done within the parameters of law.
President William Ruto has given the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Party leader Raila Odinga two options.
One, he should cede his hardline position and support a bipartisan process through parliament.
Two, if not, he should wait to battle it out with me again in 2027 polls.
The President added: I have no time for political shenanigans, theatric and raw conspiracies.
We held elections in August last year and the disputes arising were sorted out amicably. This chapter is now closed.
My priority right now is to fulfill the promises I made to Kenyans: Addressing the problems of Hustlers and helping the farmers to grow enough food among others.
When we have food, we will no longer complain of the high cost of living. The prices would automatically come down.
As you can see, we are walking the talk. When I took over the price of 2kg packet of maize flour (Unga) retailed at Sh230 but the price is now ranging from Sh180 to Sh175.
There were three other main challenges: drought and famine, Russia-Ukraine war and Kenya was recovering from ravaging effects of Covid-19 pandemic.
Ruto spoke in the wake of Raila’s threat to resume demonstrations.
This is because he felt that the President was not taking seriously the grievances he had raised.
This turnaround was ill-advised as it exposed him as a dishonesty person and give credit to claims by the leaders of Kenya Kwanza that he thrived in chaos, bloodshed and destruction of properties. Ultimately, his eyes were trained on ‘Nusu Mkate’.
In a televised address to the nation, Ruto, who had a few days earlier, extended an olive branch to him, noted.
We have read and perused the demands raised by the opposition. As a government, we are ready for dialogue and insisted this has to be done within the parameters of law.
He, therefore, rooted for a bipartisan process through parliament.
Here, the president was right. Parliament is a creature of the constitution and the members are mandated to speak on behalf of Kenyan people.
The issues Azimio had raised fell in this category.
Raila did not wait for the dust to settle. One hour after the President spoke, he convened a press conference.
He said that he fully concurred with Dr Ruto. He means well for the country and we in Azimio we are now ready for dialogue through the bipartisan parliamentary process.
So, allow me to once again reiterate. He has no justification to claim he was shortchanged. This exposes him in bad light?
I tend to believe he is being pushed by the hardliners in his camp. This is because they fear being left as orphans.
This is in case Raila agree to throw his weight behind Ruto’s roadmap.
This has happened in the past and we all recall the tricks Raila used to join the governments of President Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta in aftermath of general elections held in 2007 and 2017 respectively.
He forgot most of those who had stood with him during the political mayhems triggered by his calls for mass actions.
Some of them paid the ultimate price.
At the time, President Ruto was in his camp and one of his chief campaigners.
He even represented him during the Koffi Annan-led mediation talks.
This landed him in trouble as he was one of the six Kenyans arraigned before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Many believed including myself the charges were politically instigated. Then court prosecutor Moreno Ocampo had not conducted investigations.
He relied on the raw and un-sieved information he had mainly received from the civil society groupings. Again, the widely held view was that President Kibaki and Raila bore the greatest responsibility.
At the time, Raila was eyeing the presidency and one did not need to be a rocket science to know the western powers led by America fully supported his candidature.
Noting that these nations held absolute powers over the ICC as they were key financiers of the court, Raila worked closely with them.
At one point, he seemed to have abandoned and sacrificed Dr Ruto.
This was out of fear of losing the elections if Ruto joins hands with Uhuru Kenyatta. Their card did not work.
First, the ICC dismissed an application seeking to bar them from contesting the elections of 2013.
The judges noted that one of the key anchors of the Rome Statue, the law that created the ICC, is presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
The two Kenyan leaders have not been tried leave alone being found guilty.
We, therefore, rule that they are free to run.
The cases will proceed even they win the elections.
This came to pass. The two won the presidential elections. They continued to attend in persons the proceedings In The Hague.
This is until when thier cases were terminated on ground of lack of evidence.
This time, you would Raila to support Ruto. This is because he stood with him in 2007.
Were it not for Ruto, I highly doubt Raila would have become a Prime Minister and get his share of a ‘nusu mkate’
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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