Mystery Monday: Unlocking the 2013 Kenyan Presidential Polls Secrets Part 2

 

 

Read Part 1 of this post

Nobody can hope to analyze the 2013 polls in any way without
prominently including at the very least a whole chapter on former
Eldoret North legislator and now deputy president elect William
Ruto.

Later in this book we shall see how Ruto was incorporated into the
plan to neutralize the other threat. But in the business of spooks
sometimes allies go rogue and that is what Ruto did at one point.
But let us start off with a much better understanding of the man first.

In recent times he has managed to successfully re-package
himself to the Kenyan electorate and amazingly even to the
Kikuyu community who held him very deeply responsible for the
slaughter of Kikuyus in the Rift Valley during the 2008 skirmishes.

The truth is that nobody (including this blogger) believed that the
Kalenjin would vote in such large numbers for Jubilee.
This is a man who played a very major role in what unfolded
during the 2013 presidential polls and even defied and frustrated
the NSIS and became one of the very few people who have gotten
away with it. To begin to understand how he managed this and
many other feats, it is useful to remember the chapter on the
Kalenjin that highlights their crafty nature. Time and again people
have greatly underestimated Ruto (including this blogger) and
have ended up being shamed.

Ruto got his start from the massive amounts of cash that Moi
printed in 1992 and which was mainly distributed by the notorious
YK92 (Youth for Kanu 92) lobby group of which Ruto was an
official. Numerous eyewitnesses have described the scene at the
Anniversary Towers offices of the Youth For Kanu where large
cartons neatly stashed with 500 bob notes (the biggest
denomination notes in circulation at the time) were stacked up right
to the top of the high roof and occupied most of the space. The
campaign cash was being distributed in carton loads rather than envelopes.
An interesting aside here is that 2013 presidential candidate Peter
Kenneth also had his financial start with the Youth for Kanu group.
To his credit while others in YK92 squandered their sudden new
found wealth, driving around town in flashy cars, Ruto followed it
up with other deals like getting land allocations from Kanu for free
and re-selling the land at exorbitant prices, mostly to government
agencies. In a few short months it became difficult to link Ruto to
the man with blood-shot eyes yawning from pangs of hunger while
“tarmacking” on the streets of Nairobi looking for a job. In those
early days he would frequently be seen seated dejectedly on the
public benches outside the Hilton hotel popularly known by
Nairobians as the jobless corner.

The hugely ambitious Ruto then quickly moved into politics which
appeared at the time a grave mistake because many Kenyans
have had their business fortunes wiped out by politics and some
have been reduced to paupers. In yet to be explained
circumstances Ruto the MP was soon sitting in cabinet meetings
and still holds the distinction of the only Kenyan who is not a
cabinet minister known to have attended cabinet meetings.
Observers point his then closeness to Gideon Moi as being a
possible explanation. Whatever the reason he also fully exploited
that relationship with Gideon Moi to quickly climb up the ranks
of the KANU party.

He was to later fall out with Gideon who accused him of
amongst other things enriching himself with cash that was meant
for the Kanu presidential campaign in 1992. There are claims that
at one point his life was even threatened by people associated
with Gideon. How he repaired that relationship is yet more proof of
Ruto’s craftiness and an uncanny ability of somehow turning a
setback that looks like it will destroy him to his advantage. Another
case in point are the ICC charges which he used to form an
alliance with Uhuru who has also been charged. It is unlikely that
the union would have been accepted by both the Kalenjin and
Kikuyu communities if both Uhuru and Ruto did not have ICC
troubles. There are very few other mortals who would have seen
the opportunity and exploited it the way Ruto has done thus far.

Ruto is famous for his “short fuse” and is the man who did the
unimaginable in State House, Nairobi when he attacked and
punched Reuben Chesire, an elderly man who could have passed
for his father. Ruto had accused the old man of going around and
tarnishing his name by telling people that he was a con-man.

In the 2007 general elections Ruto gave former president Moi
(who was supporting Kibaki) a serious political hiding in Rift Valley
and bagged most of the votes there in favour of ODM and Raila
Odinga to the surprise of many political analysts who had already
started writing his political obituary.

Ruto fell out with Odinga soon after those elections in what was
clearly a carefully crafted NSIS operation to dismantle ODM and to
remove the militant Kalenjin from the party so as to avoid a
possible repeat of the 2008 blood-letting.

Gideon Moi somehow let the cat out of the bag in 2010 when he
said at a public meeting;

"In 2007, Ruto fiercely criticized Kanu for
supporting Kibaki yet he is now a frequent guest at State House. I
urge Ruto to use his newly found friendship with the President to
have innocent youth languishing in jails and police cells released
following their arrest for alleged role in post-election violence.
Please Bw Ruto when you take tea and githeri with the President
at State House remember to address the issue of the suffering
Kalenjin youth".....

The Museveni link
At the time of doing the final editing for this book President Yoweri
Museveni was scheduled to be the only foreign dignitary to speak
at Uhuru Kenyatta’s swearing in ceremony. Very telling indeed
when you also consider the frequent visits Ruto has been making
to Uganda for a very long time.

Kenyans will also remember that it was Ruto’s great influence
with the Ugandan leader that secured the release of a Kenyan
Muslim political activist held by Museveni. It is said that the release
was a personal favour to Ruto.

This close relationship with Museveni has puzzled many Kenyans
and Ruto has played his cards very close to his chest finding
clever official reasons to visit Uganda even as he has made
numerous other private visits in secret. The truth about the true nature
of this relationship will shock most people right up to their bones...


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See also; Are all the kinky stories about Shebesh true?