To beat Ruto, you must match him

 

For one to determine the person who can actually beat William Ruto in 2022, you need to examine the kind of candidate the Deputy President would be in the coming election.

Ruto is a candidate who is politically sophisticated. He is quite agile and gifted with oratory skills, which makes it easy for people to listen to him. This makes him appealing to the people or technically scares away the competition.

Ruto also has a huge voting bloc. He commands 90 per cent of the Rift Valley region. This includes the south Rift and parts of Nakuru and Turkana. This voting bloc gives him a very confident spring in his political gait. It makes him capable of becoming friends with his old enemies, who before never wanted to associate with him politically.

This has been demonstrated in the coastal region. Even though the region has been ODM's stronghold, Ruto has been able to court the leadership and people listen to him. He is also able to walk to Western without the fear of being chased away.

Thanks to his coalition with President Uhuru Kenyatta, he has been able to create a network in Central Kenya. He is easily welcome in Mt Kenya region. Ruto can easily hive off a sizable chunk of votes from Mt Kenya without the help of anybody. In Nairobi, he is able to get votes here and there.

When you look at all these factors, it means a candidate who can beat Ruto should be one who has matching political dexterity. Somebody who has a different kind of appeal but equal to that of Ruto. It could be an opposing appeal. If Ruto is considered untrustworthy, then a candidate who is trusted would take on Ruto.

Another factor would be whether the candidate would be able to get huge support from voting blocs where Ruto is not popular.

A person who lacks scandals would also be able to match Ruto. On the flip side, it could also be a person who also has scandals that match those of Ruto. They would then cancel out.

The choice of running mate will also be key. This person should have an appeal and command in vote hunting.