Someone in Deputy president William Ruto’s circle shared this photo showing him back at home in the farm weeding his cabbages.
Depending on which sidelines of the almost defunct BBI you stand, the photo reveals the sore state of the once mighty Jubilee government that would do what many thought impossible.
That from the jaws of the ICC, both president Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, suspected masterminds of crimes against humanity, would rise above the charges to form government was nothing short of a miracle.
The successes of both Uhuru and Ruto, in the last 7 years cannot and should not be understated, just as much as their failures, and as Kenya’s turn to face the elephant in the world comes up, the two are now miles apart.
Since the March 9th handshake two years ago, the whole political narrative Kenyans were used to seems to have been turned upside down. The chants at political rallies have all changed their intended targets as players shift positions.
But what would play out at the end, is how as the government, the coronavirus crisis is handled. The government in this instance is the executive.
While other countries chose to shove their political wars aside and unite to combat the coronavirus crisis, Kenya chose to take with her the political temperatures to the war room.
Ruto and his allies are missing from the task force that has been set up to deal with tis pandemic in Kenya. Ruto’s keyboard warriors were all fired just recently amidst the pandemic forcing the DP to absorb them into his 2022 campaign team, 2 years too early with a lot of uncertainty if such elections would even hold.
Ruto has been strikingly absent in all of the daily press briefings or any government meetings in relation to the pandemic. It is unclear, but best to assume, he is also missing in the National security council meetings and their updates or discussions.
Recently President Uhuru announced a raft of measures to help in the country’s preparedness for the pandemic. Among them was an 80% pay cut for him and his Deputy. The next group would get a 30% pay cut.
While both the president and his deputy are immensely rich to be affected by the 80% cut, many reports indicate Ruto was not consulted prior, and this might have been another blow to him with the pandemic as an excuse.
With the government in shutdown except essential services as required to deal with the pandemic, many offices have been advised to allow staff to work from home.
Political rallies and gatherings stand banned. Churches have been advised to close normal weekly services with many staying open for a limited people a time for personal prayer sessions.
Deputy President William Ruto was left with no choice but going back home to toil.
Jubilee’s approach is a far cry from what other Nations have done in the face of the crisis. When the entirety of the executive is called in, all hands on deck, to offer ideas, advise and at the very least, show a force of unity in the face of a pandemic, Jubilee has chosen to extend the separation of Uhuru and Ruto.
A bigger reason for this, is the belief in some circles around the handshake that a referendum under the current circumstances would still be possible before July.
The referendum is key in the 2022 succession, and prior to the outbreak, was the most spoken of topic in the country.
It is expected that the virus will cause untold havoc to our economy and way of life, for how long now one knows. But that referendum seems less likely and any failures by the government on the pandemic would have Ruto at a distant farm in Sugoi to be blamed.
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