Very powerful man, Ruto

Why was higher education minister not charged?

I could not help but laugh seeing the three MPs (including a whole assistant minister) huddled together in the dock facing charges of incitement. I was laughing because the three were testing the excesses of executive power in the old constitution that they would rather retain. Talk about getting a taste of your own medicine.

For characters like these their biggest concern on most days is where they are going to have lunch or how they are going to spend their weekend and with which young lass. And therefore to them there is no urgency to change the constitution. The current one is serving them well thank you. This is in sharp contrast to the majority of Kenyans faced with all kinds of worries and pressures. The root of many of these troubles is the current constitution that has helped entrench corruption into the very fabric of the country such that it is getting to a situation where you need to know somebody high up there just to sneeze comfortably.

But the big mystery was why William Ruto was not charged with the three. If this was all about hate speech then what Mr Ruto has been saying makes the three charged MPs look like Mother Theresa in comparison.

Many Kenyans are not aware of the fact that numerous people charged in the courts of Kenya are there mainly because they crossed a powerful individual and in many cases they are completely innocent. In other instances they are guilty but justice has been selective in deciding who gets charged and who is left alone. The current scenario is a perfect illustration of this.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has been writing to the principals for weeks, complaining mostly about Ruto’s utterances. Nothing has been done and no action was taken. This prompted the NCIC to aggressively start using the press to as to attract attention and put pressure on the government to take action. Still nothing happened.

Then after Sunday’s blasts, President Kibaki chaired an emergency security meeting and gave instructions. The result is what we are now seeing.

Now interestingly the biggest culprit of hate speech, William Ruto has not been charged along with the other three. Why? Interestingly Ruto was only questioned by the NCIC mainly about his activities in Cyber space with his 8 Facebook accounts. Nothing was said about the venom and lies that he has been spitting out countrywide for weeks now. Ruto was however in court with his 3 henchmen to show solidarity.

Is it possible that President Kibaki knows something that we don’t know about those who were responsible for Sunday’s heinous act? Is the charging of the 3 MPs a warning volley for those involved to stop or else…? But even then why was Ruto not charged? Could it have something to do with some secret political pacts made between PNU and the Higher education minister that make him almost untouchable? Everybody knows that if it was up to his party leader Raila Odinga, he would have been sacked from the cabinet a long time ago. But then Ruto seems to have some very powerful friends, so powerful that they are able to over-rule the PM and Party leader of Ruto’s party. Now who could that be?

Indeed Kenyans need to ask the question, who does Ruto represent in cabinet, because it certainly isn’t ODM. Still whoever it is he represents, they are extremely powerful. More powerful than the people of Kenya. That is the current constitution for you folks. Little wonder that some people will spill the innocent blood of even children without a second thought to retain it at all costs.