Fire in Ruto’s camp over bad poll strategies, defeat imminent

• Jan 9, 2022

By Correspondent

Close advisers of Deputy President William Ruto are entangled on a war pitting technocrats against seasoned politicians on whether the second in command should halt his early campaigns or continue crisscrossing counties in hunt for votes ahead of next year’s General Election.

While technocrats want the Deputy President to halt the campaigns and save money and energy for this year’s polls, the seasoned politicians are pushing him to increase his forays arguing he should remain ahead of his main rival, ODM leader Raila Odinga, up to August 8, 2022, when the General Election will be held.

Insiders revealed that the technocrats who were roped in the Kitchen Cabinet recently and include economist David Ndii, Prof Larry Gumbe, Raphael Munavu and former Central Bank Governor Prof Njuguna Ndung’u want Ruto to be having closed door forums with Kenyans to sell the Bottom –Up economic model rather than addressing political rallies.

The technocrats argue that the Deputy President is overdoing things and has now grown weary, even in the eyes of his diehard supporters due to many rallies he is addressing.

They are opining that Ruto is fast losing steam and has taken to repeating the same message in all the rallies, hence he needs a break to come up with new messages.

The technocrats also believe the Deep State has not only infiltrated the DP’s campaign machinery but is also behind the numerous video clips emerging after every rally of disgruntled hustlers crying foil for failing to get handouts.

The technocrats are pointing at the fact that whenever the Deputy President visits a region and make a donation, video clips of dissatisfied hustlers claiming they did not get the cash always resurface which is denting the DP’s image as a philanthropist and thus painting him as a liar and fraudster.

One of video clip that went viral was recorded in Meru where chaos and protests broke out in Maua after bodaboda operators demanded a share of Sh600,000 handed by Ruto to Tigania East MP Gichunge.

Interestingly, the MP was forced to admit he did not have the money and that Ruto was just saying he had sent the donation as part of his public relations strategy.

The MP even complained that he was unable to reach Ruto on call to demand he honours the pledge.

Earlier another group of bodaboda riders in Tharaka Nithi had demanded a share of  Sh1 million which the Deputy President had donated.

The riders captured in the clip poured cold water on the donation arguing that since they are over 12,000, it meant they would get less than Sh100 each.

In an ordinary day, a rider takes home over Sh1000 and hence staying in the DP’s rally for a whole day and then get Sh100 is an insult.

Another clip of Ruto making fake promises was recorded in Ukambani where a Mama Mboga cried bitterly that she was yet to get a share of the donation made by the second in command.

Yet another clip emerged after Ruto visited Thika in Kiambu County and made a donation.

But in the clip, the women claimed they had not received a penny.

A similar incident was reported during Ruto’s tour of Nyanza region, where hustlers from Homa Bay and Migori cried loudly that they did not receive a penny from Ruto.

Insiders added the technocrats want Ruto to halt early campaigns opining the rallies are doing more harm than good and that a notion is being created in the minds of the voters that those who attend his rallies are assured of monetary rewards. 

Other incidents of hustlers claiming they were conned were reported in Sotik where bodabodas accused area MP Dominic Koskei and his Emurua Dikirr counterpart Johanna Ngeno of disappearing with money raised by the DP for their savings and credit society.

Also, some 7,512 bodabodas from Kajiado also quarrelled over the sharing of Sh750,000 that was reportedly given to them by the DP.

Yet another incident saw Belgut MP Nelson Koech and his Turkana North colleague Christopher Nakileau forced to defend themselves over claims they pocketed DP’s handouts for youths.

But politicians want the rallies to go on arguing it would be a mistake for the Deputy President to scale down campaigns as doing so would give Raila a golden chance to catch up.