By GAKUU MATHENGE

THE   road less travelled that Deputy President, Mr William Ruto, took was to abandon his Masters of Science degree project at the Nairobi National Park in 1991

Instead, he took an early morning walk through the streets of downtown Nairobi to the Kenya International Convention Centre (KICC) offices of Kanu Women and Youth Affairs.

There he met the Women and Youth Affairs director, Dr Julia Ojiambo, who offered him the only available job – office messenger. He promptly accepted the humble occupation.

Apprentice

This little known sojourn as a humble office assistant would place him at the nerve centre of then ruling party’s inner sanctums of power decision making and intrigue.

Unbeknown to him, his first small-time job in a political office would turn out to be an apprenticeship of sorts on which he cut his political teeth.

It turned out to be a rare opportunity that put him on a trajectory that even his first boss, Dr Ojiambo, admires and few of rivals will ever know.

“There was a bunch of promising youth leaders older than him. They were more active on the frontlines with Youth for Kanu ’92.

“They included Cyrus Jirongo, Sam Nyamweya, among others. But it is Ruto who has made the most consistent progress in scaling political heights,” Prof Ojiambo recalls.

Prof Ojiambo is currently the chair of the University of Nairobi Council since 2018 after active decades of high profile politics.

Few politicians in Kenya today have scaled the political ladder so rapidly to the top from such humble beginnings. In this respect, Dr Ruto stands out as a sole act.

Such is his political dexterity that even some of his most ardent detractors acknowledge he is a cut above many of his contemporaries.

Among the top contenders in the ongoing fierce Kenyatta II succession, he is the only politician without a prominent family surname, old money and generations of ethno-economic networks behind him.

In Kenya’s contemporary anthropology of political power, kinship is a key dynamic that has sustained political careers across generations in some families.

Kinship has been the pivot in mobilizing votes and crafting inter-ethnic power-sharing deals at the national level since Independence.

What Dr Ruto lacked in ‘blue blood’ he compensated with hard work, networking and deft study of the lay of the land.

His humility in accepting a messengers’ job with Kanu directly put under the tutelage of some of the best contemporary political actors among them retired President Daniel Arap Moi.

Working with some of the most influential Kanu power men put him at the nerve centre of national politics in his mid-20s.

At the KICC Kanu headquarters, Dr Ruto worked in close proximity with Kalonzo Musyoka, then a cabinet minister and Kanu National Organising Secretary.

Today Mr Musyoka, 69, is among senior most politicians elbowing each other to stop Mr Ruto from succeeding President Kenyatta in 2022.

At the KICC Dr Ruto had a front row seat tutorials on raw political intrigues at the highest party level, lessons that seem to have served him well.

 Prof Ojiambo recalls a lanky young fellow who was extremely humble and obedient.

“He was obedient and patient. I would send him for mandazi and chips which we would have for lunch with black tea. He put up with it admirably for a young university graduate,” she recollects.

Scheme

Unknown to Ruto, Prof. Ojiambo explains, she would raise money to pay his salary and run the office through writing conference papers. She would also facilitate conferences for development organisations and civil society in town to earn extra cash.

In 1991, women and youth did not rank highly in the grand scheme of things in Kanu. They were largely relegated to dancing and entertaining politicians at public rallies.

The Women and Youth Affairs department was not a fully fledged secretariat of the party but domiciled in the office of the national organising Secretary.

In 1991, Mr Musyoka was the Kanu national organising secretary and a close ally of Funyula MP and assistant Minister, Mr Moody Awori.

Prof Ojiambo was former Funyula MP and had lost to Mr Awori in the 1983 general elections.

As a wealthy businessman aspiring for high political office, Mr Awori was a big Kanu financier and fundraiser.

Appropriately he was given the national assistant treasurer’s party position besides being appointed assistant minister.

As such, Mr Awori held sway with Mr Musyoka in keeping Dr Ojiambo and her department starved of funds after President Moi appointed her to the department against the wishes of Kanu high command.

These included then secretary-general, late Joseph Kamotho, Mr Musyoka, Mr Awori and other Western Kenya political honchos in Cabinet at the time.

Their gripe was that her appointment to the Kanu Women and Youth Affairs docket was evidence she was warming herself into Moi’s inner circle.

Prof Ojiambo getting close to the President implied electoral threats to her successor as Funyula MP and other politicians from western Kenya jostling for visibility inside Kanu regime. She needed taming.

“President Moi added to their grief when he would occasionally request me to take minutes of Kanu organs, including Kanu national governing council. This made them squirm in unease about my proximity to Mr Moi” Prof Ojiambo says.

“To cut me to size, Mr Kamotho, Mr Musyokaand MrAwori would conspire to deny the department funding defying presidential directives,” she adds.

Machinations

As Kanu national assistant treasurer, Prof Ojiambo recalls, MrAwori would routinely turn down and decline to receive and accept her proceeds from the sale of party membership recruitment cards on the pretext that her recruitment drives had not been authorized by the party.

Young Ruto was obviously observing and listening in on all these machinations and power plays, in the process growing his own rhino skin just like his ‘political mother’.

Prof Ojiambo says Kanu had missed the signs of the times and was not prepared for the revolution that hit these shores in the run-up to 1992 first multi-party General Elections.

“We were desperate. 1992 was a terrible year for Kanu. Each day headlines screamed that one top Kanu big shot after another had bailed out on us to join opposition ranks.

“These were experienced and respected personalities who took with them their regional support. This triggered panic in Kanu top ranks,” she narrates.

Among reactions by the party was to shift focus and scour non-traditional women and youth voting constituencies. 

“We desperately needed the youthful energy to stand up to the opposition onslaught and provide fresh faces after the traditional regional big men fled to join the opposition,” she says.

There were plenty of political jobs for young men like Ruto. They ranged from distributing publicity materials and guarding Kanu rallies against opposition mischief.

“Ruto was not in the top leadership of the Youth for Kanu 1992 as there were other senior players. But I’m glad he was here because he turned out as the most consistent and successful of the lot,” Prof Ojiambo notes.

Dr Ruto’s friends and foes agree he is an energetic political worker.

He is also extremely gifted in being at the right place at the right time making correct moves at critical moments especially in picking political allies.

Anecdotes

Among his admirers, another trait of his is he is often underrated by rivals. This has aided him in no small measure in outsmarting forces much bigger than himself.

Three notable anecdotes irreversibly catapulted Ruto to national limelight and left his rivals wringing their hands for underrating him:

 In 2004 human rights lawyer, Dr KamauKuria made an application to compel retired President Moi to appear before Goldenberg Commission of Inquiry.

Dr Ruto declared, “Over our dead bodies!” Newspapers went to town carrying his resolute response in screaming headlines. And with that Mr Ruto burst upon the national stage.

Rainbow

At the time, the Kalenjin power elite led by former Tinderet MP and Moi era powerful minster and chair of the Rift Valley Parliamentary Group, Henry Kosgei were running for the tall grass.

They were taking cover against a series of high profile investigations initiated by the newly elected National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) regime. 

This included wildly popular repossession of grabbed public land assets, road by-passes and forest reserves.

Dr Ruto’s defiant response to Dr Kuria’s application came as a breath of fresh air transforming him into an instant hero to Kalenjins who were still smarting from the 2002 General Elections loss.

The first real battle in which Mr Ruto made his political bones was in 2005 when he fought for the soul of Kanu that was still in the hands of retired President Moi.

Mr Moi was keen to hand over the party to a new crop of leaders but Mr Ruto did not count for much in the party’s idea of the future.

His stature was eclipsed by top Kanu princes among them Moi’s political heir designate in Kalenjin nation, Mr Gideon Moi,  late Mutula Kilonzo, Dr Bonaya Godana, Julius Sunkuli and Nicholas Biwot.

For many years Kanu used ‘guided’ rather than competitive democracy. Positions were filled through pre-agreed negotiations before NDC meetings at Kasarani.

By the time Kanu NDC was called to order, the results for various positions were largely known even before a returning office announced the “rules” to be followed in voting.

Delegation

To achieve this ‘guided democracy’ the delegates register in 2005 was then in custody of Julius Sunkuli. It was a closely guarded party asset that allowed for insertion of ‘suitable’ delegates to achieve the desired outcome at the NDC, avoiding last minute surprises.

The Rift Valley delegation was always critical and owing to the many gerrymandered constituencies in addition to being retired President Moi’s political base

It has never been clear how Dr Ruto, a backbencher representing Eldoret North managed to have his supporters recruited as ‘suitable’ Rift Valley delegates.

They were bussed to Nairobi at Kanu’s cost and sneaked into Kasarani gymnasium where they elected him secretary-general at Kasarani against all expectations. Mutula Kilonzo had been earmarked for this position.

The first successful joint project Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ruto ever pulled off together was to snooker the entire Kanu fraternity and secure the party leadership at the expense of Gideon Moi, Biwott and Mutula Kilonzo.

It is this outcome that provided Mr Ruto with a platform to edge out Kanu old guards like Mutula, Sunkuli and others from the centre.

As secretary-general, he acquired national visibility, stature and grassroots link across the country.

This outcome also placed Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta firmly in charge of the Kanu’s, resources and networks.

Orange

With the Kanu machinery behind them, they teamed up with the Raila Odinga fronted orange NO campaign during the November 2005 constitutional referendum.

While there is no doubt that Mr Odinga provided the energy and street smarts, it is the entry of Kanu into the fray that helped steamroll the government-backed YES side of the divide

Buoyed by the sweet victory at the Referendum, Ruto for the first time in 2006 felt confident enough to declare he would ran for the highest office in the land the following year, 2007.

His declaration was dismissed as youthful adrenalin loaded ego trip, particularly in his Rift Valley backyard.

It was the late Ezekiel Barng’etuny, a veteran of Kalenjin politics who voiced the virulent opinion of the Rift Valley power barons. He said Mr Ruto was punching above his weight like the Biblical Herald’s daughter.

Power men

“After dancing brilliantly at the Referendum, Ruto is deluding himself about the ultimate price,” the old man scoffed.

This little disguised contempt towards him must have stung deep. This attitude convinced Dr  Ruto the wealthy power men in Kalenjin land would never allow him rise above being Eldoret North MP.

He switched loyalty to support Raila Odinga of Orange Democratic Movement, ODM, during the 2007 General Elections against the incumbent PNU candidate President Mwai Kibaki, who retired President Moi endorsed and backed against Odinga..

Again, his position as Kanu secretary-general came in handy for ODM with its nation-wide networks of experienced political activists and contacts that no other party enjoyed.

This decision not only landed him a powerful cabinet job in the Grand National Coalition (2008), from where he was able to consolidate his position as the undisputed leader in the Kalenjin land.

From this position, he was able to eclipse the last of the old guard in Kalenjin land, among them Mr Franklin Bett and Henry Kosgey. 

His accelerated his steep rise made him the target of intense courting by retired President Mwai Kibaki and his handlers.  This firmly inserted Ruto deep inside the Kibaki succession inner lane. The rest is history.