As top presidential contenders get embroiled in party wrangles or still crafting alliances, Deputy President William Ruto seems to be making huge strides in his quest for the country’s top seat.
He has made these advances in spite of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s ruthless efforts to diminish him, reduce his powers and purge his troops from positions of authority and influence.
DP Ruto has also defied the political calm caused by Covid-19 restrictions to strategise and stay ahead of the 2022 race.
Already, the DP is executing strategies to win over voters. His target is the ordinary man and women, the go-getters, the self-starter, otherwise known as ‘hustlers’.
“The DP is ahead of the others and it will take a while before the others catch up with him. They might actually not catch up with him at all,” political analyst Elias Mutuma said.
The DP has assembled top think-tank minds, including economics gurus led by former CBK Governor Prof Njuguna Ndung’u and economist Dr David Ndii.
The team is working on a bottom-up economic model — not a trickle-down model — they believe will resonate with the masses at the bottom of the pyramid. The idea is to portray Ruto as their saviour.
In the framework to be unveiled in December, Ruto seeks to replace Jubilee’s top-down model of economy that he says has condemned millions of Kenyans to poverty.
“I find the DP’s decision to keep company with key players in various sectors, including influential Kibaki-era economists, is quite telling. He is a man determined to turn the tables on his rivals,” political risk analyst Dismas Mokua said.
Mokua said the DP aims to be a formidable force in the 2022 presidential battle through “top of the mind awareness and strategic visibility”.
Ruto has cast his net wider — beyond the borders.
Recently, he convened a six-hour meeting with Kenyans living abroad and made pledges in a clear effort to woo diaspora voters and pull a fast one on his competitors.
Besides, the DP has pulled churches to his side through his generous donations and hand outs. He has donated to businesses, helped boda boda riders, contributed in fundraisers and supported other ventures.
Throughout the pandemic, Ruto has hosted clergymen in meetings to rally them to support his bid and act as his link to the people.
Groups of politicians and grassroots leaders, including MCAs have been trooping to the DP’s Karen residence. So have artists, women and youth groups.
The former Eldoret North MP has built a strong army of young, energetic, eloquent and loyal politicians from across the country, including in President Kenyatta’s Mt Kenya backyard.
Currently, Ruto’s UDA, a vehicle he intends to use after being elbowed aside in Jubilee, is putting structures in place and registering members ahead of grassroots polls as part of the wider effort to out-do opponents.
And as the DP lays down his 2022 plans, the houses of his opponents seem quiet, if not in tatters.
ODM leader Raila Odinga, whom the DP has termed as his only worthy opponent, has not declared his candidature for the top seat.
The party’s process to identify a candidate was put on hold, as the former Prime Minister is preoccupied with the BBI and the planned referendum, as Ruto steals the show.
ODM is in turmoil as the outfit is divided between Raila and Siaya Senator James Orengo’s factions.
Other potential opponents – Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya) and Gideon Moi (Kanu) seem to be in the doldrums as they craft what is now called one Kenya Alliance.
Analyst Mutuma said Ruto is a strategist and a smart planner who is taking full advantage of his ‘removal’ from government to organise and strategise his 2022 winning plans.
“Unlike others who have wasted a lot of time trying to make formations, alliances and trying to understand what they really want, the DP seems to know what he wants and whom he wants to do whatever he intends to do,” he said.
“Apart from him, there hasn’t been any other person who had been seen working towards his candidature in 2022. So, I would say he is ahead of the game by far,” he added.
Political observer Martin Andati, however, disagreed that the DP has an edge over his potential rivals.
He argued that Ruto is energetic and ‘loud’ in his activities unlike others who are consulting ‘quietly’.
“He wants to be seen to be doing so much, but even Raila has also been meeting people. Musalia has been taking photos outside his presidential place. So that does not give the DP any edge,” he said.
“Now that Ruto has been sidelined from government, he doesn’t have much to do. He is a full-time career politician. So he has to do politics because that is the only thing he can do.
Last weekend, Ruto held a three-day retreat in the Maasai Mara with top economists, including Ndii, a former Nasa strategist, and a section of Mt Kenya MPs, to draw the new economic model they think will win the hearts of the electorate.
In a statement released after the model was adopted, Ruto said the current trickle- down model denies millions of citizens the opportunity to realise their full potential.
“This model has failed to create enough jobs, expand opportunities and bring prosperity. Instead, it has fostered a hostile environment that has made it difficult for enterprise, trade, business, creativity and initiative to thrive,” Ruto explained.
He added the number of excluded Kenyans is about 10 million, or about half of the country’s workforce. “A country that leaves half its people behind cannot go far,” he the DP said.
His critics, however, accuse him of promising more, even as most of the Jubilee’s 2013 and 2017 promises remain pending.
The retreat came just days after the meeting with Kenyans in the US, Middle East, South Africa and Australia.
During the session, he promised to create a full-fledged ministry to help Kenyans overseas.
“It is time we had a fully dedicated ministry for the diaspora just as we have a ministry for devolution. The ministry will be addressing all the challenges facing Kenyans in every part of the world,” he said.
The DP said with diaspora remittances at Sh360 billion annually, Kenyans living abroad deserve a ministry, just like the Devolution docket, which oversees almost an equal amount for counties.
Slightly more than three million Kenyans are in the diaspora.
The meeting was attended by Ndii, former National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale and strategists Prof Edward Kisiangani and Eliud Owalo, among others
The IEBC is required by law to ensure that eligible Kenyans in the diaspora register and vote in general elections.
However, the commission is yet to roll out a roadmap that would capture the more than three million voters.
In 2017, only 2,825 Kenyans in Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania voted in an election restricted to only the five countries in the diaspora.
In 2020, Kenyans in the diaspora sent home Sh330.6 billion, just Sh40 billion shy of the total share of national revenue for the 47 county governments.
On Tuesday, Ruto hosted 32 Narok MCAs at his Karen residence.
Earlier, the DP held a meeting with leading popular musicians who are influential in the entertainment industry. BY THE STAR