President Uhuru Kenyatta has finally found a perfect answer to William Ruto’s persistent insults and abuse directed at him for daring to support Raila Odinga and put Kenya first in the next General elections instead of working with somebody he knows is incompetent and is a thief grabbing public money and properties.
Uhuru has not reduced himself to exchanging insults with Ruto. To his credit, he seems to view that as being beneath him.
Uhuru’s message to Ruto as he said at the rally in Korogocho was that no amount of threats and insults will stop him from supporting Azimio Coalition and fighting for a united and peaceful Kenya.
Uhuru has taken to making impromptu and unannounced appearances in the city where he lives. First was his visit to Kenyatta Market where he was greeted by a large number of excited Kenyans who were thrilled to be with their president.
On Friday, March 18, 2022, Uhuru was in the city to open Mama Margret Kenyatta Children’s Hospital, and the crowds that came out speak volumes about the weight Uhuru will have on August 9, 2022.
In the impromptu rally, the instant crowd drawn to Uhuru looked like what Ruto has been hoping for. Just regular folk coming out to hear what the leaders have to offer for their future.
When Uhuru took a small ride from the hospital to talk to people in the area who had gathered to meet him it was obvious there are few Kenyans with the magic to bring people out the way he can and this is only going to get better.
Read: Those predicting Uhuru’s demise could be in for a cruel shock
Kenyans will be looking to Uhuru making such trips and campaign for Azimio all across the country. There is a reason Ruto has been crying and throwing insults at the president since he came back from his foreign trip.
After Ruto listened to Uhuru’s endorsement of Raila and his unequivocal support for Azimio Coalition he went berserk and it is not stopping.
When Uhuru was in Nairobi asking Kenyans to support Azimio Coalition, Ruto was at Uhuru’s doorstep right at the president’s home area in Gatundu South.
In this rally, Ruto’s battle cry was that he wants Uhuru’s neighbours in Gatundu to talk to him and ask him to stop supporting Raila.
In fact, Ruto specifically asked Uhuru not to bring the sword they used to deal with Raila and use it in cutting Ruto’s own political legs. I suspect that sword could be tired now. But those were Ruto’s words when he was in Gatundu asking for help to get Uhuru at least quiet.
Ruto raised the issue of how he and Uhuru joined hands and were being prayed for to overcome the ICC nightmare they were both facing in 2013.
Talking about the ICC cases right now as the campaign unfolds in Kenya there is a very important case revolving around witness tampering and interference by none other than the DP himself. Incidentally, President Uhuru has not been accused of any such issue.
The witness interference involved in this case includes ICC witnesses killed in cold blood, bribes provided with huge sums of money and in some cases capturing their family members with a threat to kill them if the witness doesn’t recant their evidence against the accused in this case William Ruto.
The latest witness who testified just yesterday was interesting. This witness said he was offered Shs.500,000.00 and as a poor person from a poor family he was forced to accept the money but still went ahead and testified during the case at the Hague.
To fulfill his promise to Ruto’s agents the witness told the ICC court that he decided to recant all the evidence he gave to ICC investigators and declared that Ruto was innocent. He earned his money and Ruto bought his freedom. At what price to Kenya and the victims who are not here to speak for themselves we don’t know.
Read: Ruto to Uhuru: “ICC brought us together and now ICC must separate us”
When Mr. Gacheru, Ruto’s agent on trial at ICC today gets convicted of harassing and molesting witnesses to help Ruto get free from the case what will Ruto do?
It probably wouldn’t matter what Ruto does because it will be up to the ICC to activate his charges which were held in abeyance and can be brought back any minute with new incriminating evidence.
If I was Ruto I would worry more about that than Uhuru. That is coming down the wire in a few months from now.
Today in his rallies, President Uhuru also weighed in on the issue of boda bodas with public safety and several outstanding issues to deal with. Uhuru’s message to boda boda riders is to pay no attention to political opportunists who want to jump on their issues to try to get political mileage.
Uhuru was specifically referring to Ruto’s order to boda boda riders to simply invade the police stations and collect their bikes.
The president assured “boda boda” riders and other small traders that the Government has no intention of frustrating them as purported by some politicians but instead it is working to improve their welfare.
“I will organize to meet you soon so that together we can work on how to improve the sector and ensure you reap maximum benefits from your sweat,” the President assured boda boda riders.
Like everybody else, the president must have been concerned that encouraging that kind of action from boda boda riders could cause mayhem and outright warfare between the police officers and boda boda riders in Nairobi.
That would not solve anything but for Ruto solving problems is not his concern at this time. Anything to give him a little room in his desperate battle to win the presidency means everything to him now
As one would predict some of the boda boda bad boys now feel now they can take on the police and give them a beating. That happened in Nairobi yesterday.
The best thing that happened in this incident is that the boda boda riders who witnessed the attack on the police officer immediately pursued the attacker and brought him to the police where he was formally arrested and peace restored.
That is exactly the reason why politicians should think about what they say and what impact their public utterances can have on public response to issues that face them
In nutshell, Uhuru at his rally in Nairobi emphasized that he will continue focusing on national unity and peace as the most important ingredients for the country’s progress.
“I will continue to stand firm in my resolution that national unity is the most important thing for the country’s development and progress. I believe that justice will prevail not threats and insults,” Uhuru said.
Uhuru cited the newly opened hospital as an example of the developments that can be achieved if all leaders worked together for the country’s common good.
“If all of us, as leaders, join hands and concentrate on working together, we will succeed in transforming the lives of Kenyans. A good example is this hospital project that had stalled for close to 30 years but we managed to finish it when the national and county governments together with other leaders joined hands to ensure its completion,” Uhuru said.
That is what leadership looks like and Kenyans are getting ready to vote for which president and which political group can keep that going. It is game on.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
