May the Lord protect President William Ruto from his friends, because for now, we can’t tell who his real enemies are.
Following weeks of drama in Kenyan politics, it is easier to now state categorically that those who stand between the President and a second term are also closest to him; characters in the mould of Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and his Tiaty counterpart, William Kamket.
They have been joined in this grotesque political voodoo dance by, among others, Daadab MP Farah Maalim, who is not even a member of the ruling coalition, having joined the current parliament via the Wiper Democratic Movement, which in turn ran on the colours of the Azimio coalition in the 2022 election.
We were raised to think politics is a game of persuasion and seduction. To sell one’s ideals and earn the consent of the voter, the prospective leader had to appeal to the soul of the population.
Nobody quite prepared us for the brand of politics where leaders arrogantly declare that they would get another term, come what may. It is not every day that the regime’s leading lights mount the podium and openly threaten to disregard the people’s will.
Yet, in these past weeks, people perceived to be confidantes of Ruto, in responding to growing anger over poor governance and rampant abductions of citizens, have opted to announce to the nation that no matter how the country votes in 2027, Ruto would secure a second term by hook or crook.
The President hasn’t felt sufficiently motivated to call his troops to order.
To be fair, folks like Sudi and Kamket lack the intellectual range to weigh their words against any internal strategic objectives.
In fact, if they were not seen as people with the President’s ear and/or from his backyard, with the ability to chart the destiny of the regime no one would take them seriously.
As for the angry rants by Maalim, the less about the contemptuous, shallow posturing, the better.
Earlier in the week, Public Service CS Justin Muturi shocked the entire nation by unleashing a hard-hitting tirade against his own government, over the abductions, before providing a chronology of his son’s own kidnapping months before.
It was a straight dare at the President to sack him. At the time of penning this, Muturi was still sitting pretty.
But Ruto’s delicate dalliance with the Mount Kenya region probably wouldn’t take any adverse action on Muturi right now.
However, Muturi’s unprecedented rant provided an interesting background to the goings-on in the country.
First, it is important to note that the abduction of the former Attorney General’s son happened months ago.
He never spoke at that time. His decision to speak up so firmly now, suggests that he knows something that we ordinary mortals don’t.
This manner of invitation to be martyred for a cause isn’t a “very Cabinet thing”.
Does the CS now find his continued stay in government so untenable that he is willing to exercise the Samson Option, now that his Mount Kenya region is becoming impossible to salvage for the Kenya Kwanza government by the day?
Beyond just the explosive chronology of events around the son’s abduction, Muturi’s scoop tells many stories in one. The more striking part is how the CS couldn’t get any help from any of the top commanders and leaders of Kenya’s security apparatus.
From the Inspector General of Police to the CS, from the director general of the National Intelligence Service to the DCI director, he was unable to get help during his son’s ordeal, until he went directly to the President.
Here, it was as if the CS intended to declare where the buck, with regard to the abductions.
I took great note of the portion of the statement that alleged that the former AG’s son had been held by the NIS. It brings to question the level of professionalism and the methods deployed by the service.
Intelligence gathering is a factor of stealth and discretion. In the modern era in fact, advanced technology and better tools of surveillance and tracking have made the action of grabbing people from the streets rather obsolete and primitive.
To make it worse, nearly all of these abductees have been released without charge.
So, what sort of intelligence service can detain citizens without a full report and picture in each case, so that those arrested can proceed to trial for whatever crimes they have committed.
The more compelling argument indeed is that the NIS, by abrogating itself the role of snatching citizens, placing them in custody and purporting to investigate them, is taking over the mandate of the DCI, which by the way, happens to have facilities for officially holding suspects.
I have studied Kenya’s civilian intelligence service over the years. In the periods it has been led by a civilian, somehow, it has opted to use tools of intimidation and extreme measures in gathering intelligence, detentions, torture and disappearances.
Yet, under retired generals: Brigadier Wilson Boinett, Maj Gen Michael Gichangi and Maj Gen Philip Kameru, the service has undertaken its mandate discreetly and, in the background, as it should.
Perhaps there is even a valid argument here that military generals by nature do not think beating up and detaining civilians achieves any long-term security objectives.
A good look at some of the abductees should tell the whole story. Young, almost naïve children, with teenage faces.
One of them, when asked by the media what he had missed the most while being held, promptly responded, that he had missed his mother’s sweet food the most.
Very typical of a child. I am not persuaded that the NIS, even when sharing intelligence with its regional and global peers, wants to show the face of this kind of child as the poster image of “threat to national security”, to be abducted and be abandoned days later, miles away from home.
Incidentally, if indeed the NIS has been the central player in the abductions, it would be interesting to know what kind of situation reports they deliver to the President regarding the state of the nation.
To put it flatly, the alleged actions of the service, as far as abductions are concerned, have been a catalyst of public anger against the head of state, yet the same service is meant to provide him with forecasts over the same anger.
The irony is quite fat. This in no way is confirmation that Muturi’s words hold the gold standard for truth.
But as far as narratives go, we have heard only his side, and the government is yet to respond.
As far as image problems go, it is the government now in its defence. Unfortunately, rather than a credible and conscious image-repair action, those who will respond will be the Sudis, Maalims and Kamkets; with arrogant reminders to the population that the regime is going nowhere, regardless of what anyone thinks.
Which in a nutshell,
will confirm that President Ruto’s
worst enemies are his own people
within the regime, helping erode the
confidence of Kenyans daily while
making subtle threats at overturning
the people’s will in the next election.
Very strange way to govern.
