RUTO SHOULD BE A WORRIED MAN:

Ruto Losing Support in his Backyard

By Maritim Kipngetich

William Ruto’s political mileage in the former Rift Valley Province is slowly fading away basing on the current political happenings in the region.

Deputy President William Ruto. PHOTO/COURTESY

Although Ruto is a national figure considering his position as the Deputy President (DP), he has lost more support in his backyard than what he lost when he was just a member parliament of Eldoret North constituency.

It seems the famous say “a prophet does not have support in his background” can be applied here.  It is important to note that Ruto still have the capability to woo his supporters since he had gained a lot of trust among the residents of the region.

In politics, it is said you should not spare those who supported you to gain power since whatever you give them may not satisfy them and they will always end up complaining and begging for more. It seems Ruto is using this ideology since he has broken ties with many of his former supporters in the former Rift Valley Province due to regularly complaints.

It goes without saying that Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto has been supporting the DP since and he has never gone in contrary to his plans, but this changed barely two months after 2013 elections.

Things started going wrong between the two just after Isaac demanded more money to counties. The DP looked at the Pesha Mashinani referendum drive as if it was Isaac’s agenda forgetting the fact that Isaac is the Chair of Council of Governors and his mandate is to voice the grievances of his colleagues.

Although the government interpreted Isaac’s move for a referendum just the way it interpreted the Cord’s move for the same that should not be used to curtail the relationship of the former allies.

Losing ground support in politics is a dangerous thing and DP should learn from the cooperation the Central Kenya  has. No one from the central region has ever opposed the president’s proposal. I can base my argument from two premises. One, the Gatundu South legislative seat went vacant last year after the death of the area MP and the region did not have any election. The current MP of the region Moses Kuria was endorsed by the president and no one had a contrary say.

Two, the JAP candidate for the Kabete legislative seat Ferdinand Waittu also almost won unopposed since he garnered more than 95% of the total votes cast. I dare say if a seat in the Rift Valley became vacant today, JAP will have a big task to claim it.

It is high time the DP should go back to his backyard and ask his supporters what they want. He should avoid making some crucial decisions of the party in Nairobi alone with the president and some legislators from the central region.

He should not have merged the URP and TNA without consulting all the members of the party. This may implicate negatively and he will be eying for presidential seat in 2022.