Ruto has one big blessing where he is unmatched. His big supporters, both politicians hooked on his legs everywhere he goes and his internet and Twitter warriors have one thing which is good for Ruto’s ego.
They thrive on delusional endless predictions on how Ruto has already won the 2022 presidential elections.
As far as they are concerned, this election has been won by Ruto since October 2021 when Raila jumped in to take on Ruto and they declared their victory and have been singing about that ever since.
That Ruto mob was waiting to fight Raila the ODM leader and Luo maniac who cannot win a race. The Ruto mob had their tribal attack dogs ready for the go.
Then Uhuru ruined everything by coming out publicly to support Raila for the presidency and that tribal war against the Luo presidential candidate was blown to pieces.
If anything that is really what pisses the Ruto mob and it may very well be the reason why abusing the president even in his own backyard has become a full-time occupation to Ruto and his UDA team.
Here is the president having a wonderful time at Kenyatta Market in Nairobi and people are just naturally drawn to him.
Kenyans are yearning for this kind of campaign where leaders are having fun with other Kenyans instead of leaders always screaming and yelling at them while attacking all sorts of enemies, real and mostly imagined.
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Ruto himself was in Nairobi the same day today doing the rounds and as usual, he is surrounded by yellow uniforms like he is addressing a choir of some sort.
He was not having a good day. First, one of his superstars, Starehe M.P Charles Jaguar, was booed in front of his boss right in his own constituency. That is not good. Ruto should be wise enough to avoid those confrontations with political rivals all hanging on to him for the money to try their luck in their races.
Jaguar was prominent at the Ruto nomination party where he led the crowd singing “Yote Wazekana Bila Uhuru” and you would have thought he is a big boy in the Ruto fun club.
He was brought to earth in Starehe.
From the heckling, Ruto went to Ngara Market where he gave another one of his antagonistic ramblings against the government on the issue of boda bodas. Ruto was telling the boda boda riders whose motorbikes have been confiscated by the police that the government was against them because they are not like the rich KEMSA billionaire thieves who are rich and are protected by the government.
Everybody knows that KEMSA issues have nothing to do with boda boda problems which arose after a young woman was viciously attacked on live video which made many Kenyans very angry and demanded boda boda operations provide services in an atmosphere where the safety of passengers and the public is taken seriously.
That led to a crackdown on boda bodas which has now been stopped now and they are sorting out the outstanding issues.
But for Ruto the safety of that young girl who was attacked and injured is irrelevant to his political ambitions. If this gives him an opportunity to be seen as the voice fighting for boda boda riders and attacking the government on their behalf, that is a political gift Ruto had to grab and run with.
The one that is going to really surprise Ruto and his UDA team is that they are going to see how Uhuru is respected and popular with ordinary Kenyans all over the country.
Those who are waiting to see Uhuru running around with Raila in the campaign trail are wasting their time. Uhuru will do that when he feels like but the real magic President Uhuru brings to the Raila team is like what happened there at Kenyatta market.
Can you Imagine Uhuru Kenyatta taking a campaign walk in Nairobi moving in constituencies and markets in the city? Nothing will match that and it is coming.
Plus Uhuru can campaign in Mombasa and get a very good following. In North-Eastern and in Ukambani regions Uhuru has mass followings there.
Back in the Mt.Kenya region where Ruto and his supporters think they own the votes, Uhuru is going to have an impact there in a big way. Look at the confusion in Kiambu where the Ruto mob has been glossing over as the best example of Uhuru being useless politically now.
Ruto has a crowd of leaders namely Moses Kuria, William Kabogo, George Waititu, and others all hanging on Ruto to help them get the Kiambu governor job. In the first place, none of those people is a political heavyweight anywhere even in Kiambu. Secondly, UDA can only nominate one candidate and that list looks awful.
Are the Kurias, Kabogos, and Waititus going to be our new heroes for the next government? We are not that badly cursed as a country and history is going bury these chaps in the dustbin come August 9, 2022. So Kiambu is going to be wide open. And when Uhuru starts doing market-to-market charm offensive there we will see the results.
So for many Kenyans and based on the facts on the ground, the demise of Uhuru Kenyatta in Kenyan politics has been wildly exaggerated.
The Ruto group was very happy with those Radio Africa polls when Ruto was leading with 60% plus in the polls and they told us it is all over. I personally have problems trusting these polls because I have no idea how they are done across the country. For me, they are estimates and guesswork at best.
Read: Odinga the most preferred as President by Kenyans at 47%, Ruto 43% latest poll shows
But the latest surveys from Radion Africa show Raila has overtaken Ruto and is approaching 50% in the polls. Of course, Ruto and his crowd will say this is state-cooked polls.
In my view, I don’t need the polls to tell me anything about this election. I believe what I see with my eyes. The dynamics of this election are shaping up and judging by what I saw in the Azimio run to their nomination, the tide in this election has shifted big time.
Raila has the momentum going forward and if he builds on it by June this year the election will be completely over.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
