Will President William Ruto Manage To Stop The Political “Hysteria” in Mt. Kenya?
President William Ruto
By Joseph Kamutu
As the old English adage goes, “History repeats itself; ” the palpable hysteria which rocked the Mt. Kenya region shortly after the handshake between former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition Supremo Raila Odinga in 2018 and which snowballed all the way into the 2022 General Election high octane campaigns is once again back in the mountain, this time even with more intensity, amidst claims of betrayal of the region by President William Ruto, even after voting for him, almost to a man in the 2022 polls.
The hysteria, coupled with high political temperatures died down immediately after Ruto’s “narrow” win over Odinga, but as it were, the marriage between Ruto and the Mt. Kenya region was short lived, just like the earlier one between the late President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga which collapsed shortly after the “sweet” NARC victory in 2002 over almost the then unassailable KANU, amidst claims that President Kibaki had failed to honour a post-election MoU between him and Odinga.
Fast forward to 2025 … this time the bone of contention is … the recent handshake between President William Ruto and Raila.
Back to the events surrounding the 2018-2022 period and the subsequent declaration by Uhuru after months of speculation that his preferred successor was indeed his hitherto chief protagonist and bitter political enemy, Raila Odinga.
Shortly after the now famous 2018 handshake between Uhuru and Raila, the two hitherto bitter political rivals mooted the “Build Bridges Initiative” (BBI) with the express objective of bridging the existing social-political and development gaps in the country.
The initiative by the two erstwhile political opponents though seemingly noble met stiff opposition from a section of Kenyans led by the then deputy President, William Ruto who viewed the BBI as a clever ploy by Uhuru to give Odinga a headstart over his rivals in the upcoming 2022 polls.
Interestingly, in the vibrant team that vehemently opposed BBI was also NARC-Kenya and now PLP leader, Martha Karua and a host of other leaders from the mountain, never mind that the initiative had the express objective to benefit the region matters development.
The BBI was finally subjected to a “popular vote” after intense and protracted campaigns, in which the government side won.
The victory was short lived as it was soon thereafter declared null and void by the High court.
A devastated Uhuru was to retort that despite the setback, the BBI would “one day in the future” bounce back, something that now looks a reality going by utterances by some of those who then vehemently opposed the BBI, but today ironically finds themselves in the opposite side after being in the Kenya Kwanza government in the last two years.
After the fall of the BBI, Uhuru stopped all pretensions and went out of his the way to campaign for the Azimio duo of Odinga and Karua, the same way Ruto has gone out of his way to cement his new found camaraderie with Odinga through a handshake in which the two have signed an MOU to bolster the broad based government, after his fully fledged campaign to have Odinga clinch the AU top seat flopped.
It must be remembered that just like in the BBI, the side which is now wearing the other shoe campaigned aggressively to ensure Odinga’s bid did not succeed.
But alas, the failed bid has only gone ahead to strengthen the cooperation between the two, much to the chagrin of the opposing camp.
It now remains to be seen whether the planned visit by President Ruto to the highly volatile region, politically speaking by President Ruto will help to reduce the mounting anger and disillusionment by the mountain people, who led by the former Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua strongly believe that President Ruto is “hell bent” on dislodging them from top positions in government on top of destroying their agriculture sector, especially tea and coffee farming in addition to dairy farming which are the backbone of the region’s economy.
Whether the President will succeed in putting out the “volcanic” political fires in the mountain or not, only time will tell …
Joseph Kamuto Is A Political And Social Commentator
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