The Ruto Curse

There are several methods that ignorant and naïve Kenyans use to judge human character. The most popular is how much money somebody has to their name. If you have money then you are a very clever person and a person to be trusted, so the reasoning goes. And true to form those mostly with ill-gotten wealth always say the right things to neatly complete the façade that is their so-called image.

But inevitably somewhere down the line they will do something stupid that will bring out their true character for all and sundry to see.
Character should always be judged by a person’s actions and not what they say or claim to be.

There is a national leader called William Ruto who has been traversing the country reassuring Kenyans that he is bringing to them a new non-dictatorial brand of leadership to Kenya that understands the problems of ordinary folk. Make no mistake about it, this man Ruto is a schemer par excellence.

In my book he would have been a person to trust had he resigned from his party post in ODM the minute he fell out with the party leadership. Instead he officially remains one of the two deputy party leaders even as he goes round the country trashing his party and selling instead his new party, UDM.

This is the same William Ruto who not too long ago held the entire country at ransom negotiating a common position for the purposes of passing a new constitution but the minute the very document he had negotiated had been published he emerged as it’s most passionate critic leading the no campaign to defeat that constitution.

Raila supporters believe that their leader can do no wrong but it is as clear as day that the man who wants to be the next president of Kenya made a very grave mistake when he hesitated to act decisively against Ruto right at the beginning of this rebellion and instead opted to treat him with kid’s gloves hoping for reconciliation. Clearly this only fed on Ruto’s ego and the rebellion has now grown much bigger than the small bush fire that would easily have been put out at the beginning with minimum casualties.

As you read this Ruto and company are plotting to pull the rug from under ODM by resigning from the party en mass causing Raila to lose his premiership which the national accord pegs his majority party position to. Read the story HERE.

Interestingly Ruto and his allies have been telling Kenyans that ODM is a dictatorship for wanting to force them out of the party. Insinuating that Raila would not have been labeled a dictator had he stuck to his previous pussy-cat-lame-duck stance of doing nothing against Ruto and company.

What I find even more interesting is the language used by Ruto and company in their public meetings. Kindergarten stuff if you ask me. Statements like “they will do us nothing” would hardly be the kind of language I would expect from a national leader who seriously wants my vote for the most powerful office in the land.

Indeed Ruto is so busy currently spreading his poison that it is easy to forget that he still has a very serious unresolved matter before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

I know many of my dearest readers admire this Ruto man but to be honest he always leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I come across his name.

I end this Ruto post with a fascinating comment by one of my readers in a previous post referring to the aftermath of the punch up in State House involving William Ruto and a respected Kalenjin politician at the time Chesire;

The "Statehouse Punch Up" ended up in William Ruto being cursed by concerned elders from the Rift Valley.

The curse came to be known as "The Chesire Curse" with an elders' clause; "the arrogant and disrespectful young man (Ruto) will only see the inside of the '1907 government house' as a messenger or visitor or an outsider, and never as the main man incharge for as long as he's involved in politics".

The curse couldn't be undone since the offended elder, Chesire, passed away before any attempts were made by both sides in terms of reconciliation and cleansing rituals for Ruto.

Call it supersititious if you will, but time will tell whether the curse was a deserved response to some of the angriest implications of Ruto's role in the "State House Punch Up".
Read more about Ruto and Moi secrets.

Kumekucha’s Weekend Special is BACK with an unusual but very topical subject. Rupert Murdoch started with a small afternoon newspaper in his native Australia and single-handedly built the colossal media empire that is now under threat. Kumekucha brings you all the inside never-before told secrets that reveal the true character of this media mogul and the bizarre methods he used to grow newspaper circulations. No media practitioner should miss this amazing series. And nobody who wants to understand the evil ways of the media worldwide should fail to read How Rupert Did IT and Did Everybody In only in Kumekucha this weekend. Is Chris qualified to write this? Well he has been carefully following the man’s career over the last 30 years. What he produces is unforgettable. See you here tomorrow (Saturday 23rd July 2011).

What Kenyans Don’t Know About How Terror Wins Elections

I can always tell when I strike a raw nerve somewhere in the big fat bodies of the kings of impunity. Judging from the threats and angry messages I have received after my previous post, there are obviously people who are very determined that nobody should link violent crime and terror groups to elections just now. I can guess the reason. It is so that Kenyan voters never realize what is happening until it is too late. Ask yourself the following questions which I have asked in this blog before; - Is it a mere coincidence that tribal clashes/politically instigated violence started for the first time when multiparty politics was re-introduced into the country with the repealing of the infamous section 2 a? - Is it a mere coincidence that tribal clashes/politically instigated violence usually break out on the eve of general elections, like clockwork and without fail? 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and the most violent in January 2008? - If tribal clashes/politically instigated violence are as a result of competitive politics causing politicians to incite the people, does it mean that before 1991 we did not have competitive politics in the country?

- Is it a mere coincidence that most senior government officials and even opposition politicians shoot from hip when it comes to commenting on other national issues but when it comes to Mungiki violence and even most political violence, the silence is deafening? 

 - If it is true that tribal clashes/politically instigated violence is the handiwork of various individual politicians with loose mouths (and not the work of high powered politically organized crime), why were there no tribal clashes/politically instigated violence in the run up to the referendum on a new constitution in 2005? And yet tensions were so high? The saddest thing is that many Kenyans do not know what political violence achieves. What is the point of killing and terrorizing your would-be voters, they wonder? Actually Kenya election violence is never an accident and the people behind it are not fools. 

Here is what violence achieves; 

 a) Your opponent's voters are forced to relocate from the place where they need to be to vote. In many cases your core supporters remain. Those who remain who are not with you, can hardly make an objective choice when their priority is to stay alive. (This is one reason why the law should be changed to allow people to vote from anywhere). 

 b) In the ensuing violence and the chaos that follows there is nobody to stop you "importing" thousands of voters to win the election for you. 

 c) Violence spreads fear. The idea is to create very serious fear, then come in and quell the violence. It is then very easy to convince the voters that if they don't vote for the "people who quelled the violence" then the violence will return if the other side wins. 

d) It becomes easy to collect voters cards from those who remain in return for their lives and security. 

e) It becomes impossible for any candidate to sell their agenda to the electorate. In brief election violence and intimidation works. That is why people use it. When you are seated in safety in that posh apartment in some smart neighborhood or in some foreign country, it is impossible for you to understand what it is like to live in constant fear of your life in your own country.

  Are bank robberies linked to election war chests?