The state of Kenya is above elections. It is a unitary actor. It cannot be the state of the Deputy President, the President or wananchi. It is one thing when it is outside there.
Therefore, a person who aspires to be a representative of that state ought to know that when he or she is elected the president, they automatically become diplomat number one. It means you represent the state in international affairs.
Ruto wants to represent this country but then he misrepresents it because of local politics. He is out of order because he is carrying local politics to international affairs.
Diplomatically, a person at the level of Ruto, who is a representative of a sovereign state, speaks with the voice of a unitary actor. The positions internally we collapse them into one to show that the sovereign state has no challenges internationally.
You can talk about other things; things about what you are going to do. In fact, he should have used the opportunity to say we have been in government and made some progress or not but when I take power, then the international partners will be invited to work with us to deliver, but not say Kenya is captured.
You do not say the state is captured because you will discourage investors. You also do not say that we are at the bottom and not doing well.
Remember during the time of President Moi when some members of the civil society were on a tour abroad and said Kenya was extremely corrupt? Some African countries said the remarks were out of order. You do not demean the sovereignty of your country because you want to be the leader of the same state.
If I were the DP I would be talking about how I would make it possible for better partnerships. Tell them how the potential of Kenya is extremely high but not fully exploited. Nobody would want to go to a state that has been captured.
TUK International Relations lecturer spoke to the Star
“WATCH: The latest videos from the Star”