That Deputy President William Ruto is an overly driven and ambitious man is no secret, he is a self-described "hustler" and given his background and ascendancy from the most humble of beginnings to a heartbeat away from the presidency, the man has proven that he has indeed earned his stripes as a bona fide hustler- nothing wrong with being a hustler per se, except when it is put into proper context with regards to Ruto. There are things that are just hard to ignore about Ruto. Unlike President Kenyatta who grew up a prince and commands wide admiration across party lines, the same cannot be said of Ruto and perhaps this is most likely to or is actually becoming more of a liability to President Kenyatta than an asset. William Ruto's checkered past from his days under President Moi, his dalliance with the opposition Chief Raila Odinga and now as the number two guy under Kenyatta, throughout his metamorphosis, his brand and by extension that of Kenyatta has been dogged with accusations of actual and propensity to Violence and corruption.
In addition to the self-christened "Hustler" title, some of the adjectives that have been used describe Ruto include; arrogant, conniving, bully, masquerader, pathological liar, mobster, hit-man, manipulator, corrupt, elitist, backstabber, ethnic chauvinist, opportunist, a fraud, a phony, narcissistic, ruthless, erratic, impulsive, lawless, thug, elitist, malicious, depraved, gloater, corky, showoff, juvenile, gangster, swindler just to mention a few. With these, should Kenyans be worried that they are being led, at least in part, by a man who is for all practical purposes, deemed a gangster? In his last public address, Ruto derisively dismissed those in opposition calling for reforms in government and advised Kenyatta to focus on development and leave the task of straightening the opposition to him because he doesn't need help in that task. This coming on the heels of Jacob Juma's murder and the attendant revelations of other past acts of violence, the ICC mistrial and the relentless excessive use of force by the police against protesters give credence to those who perceive the man as a sadistic maniacal thug.
The question on many Kenyans minds is why does Kenyatta still keep him around? Is it blind loyalty or does the president approve of his character or worse yet is Kenyatta complicit in Ruto's activities? After all the full measure of a man's character includes in large part the company he keeps, so would we be wrong to project Ruto's character flaws on Kenyatta himself? Would Kenyans be justified in taking into account Ruto's character traits in deciding whether or not to reelect the Jubilee government? Does Kenyatta need Ruto to retain power? The tags on Ruto will invariably rub on Kenyatta and taint his own reputation and so I wonder, what will happen if President Kenyatta takes decisive action against Ruto based on the piling allegations of murder and corruption against him? I surmise that it will endear him to the general public who will regard him as a fair law and order president who cares about what the public thinks and is responsive to their desire to have a clean scandal free government rather than harboring, aiding and abetting a criminal. As it is now or left unchanged, Ruto is a drag on Kenyatta's reputation, government and reelection chances, just that simple. Kenyatta doesn't need Ruto to retain power but Ruto definitely needs Kenyatta for his survival and political career, even among Kalenjins, Ruto's star power has waned considerably since the last election of 2013- they openly call him a pathological liar because he lies so effortlessly. In that respect, whereas Ruto has been conducting himself with an aura of invincibility, Kenyatta can actually dispense of Ruto with very little negative political impact, in fact Kenyatta would win in a landslide without Ruto- why Kenyatta still believe he's beholden to Ruto befuddles me.
Let's examine the main charges against Ruto;
Murder & Violence – Jacob Juma- Since the murder of businessman and CORD supporter Jacob Juma two weeks ago, Ruto's name has once again come into sharp focus as the person responsible for his killing. Before his demise, Juma himself directly pointed at Ruto repeatedly in social media as the person planning his murder. Shortly thereafter, Cyrus Jirongo, Ruto's old friend – publicly gave the most damning direct video testimony directly naming Ruto as the person who not only planned for Juma's murder but also killed yet another man in early 2000s by snapping his neck, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDgVtVTiFJ0 .
Meshack Yebei – This ICC prosecution witness was scheduled to testify against Ruto at the ICC but made the mistake of remaining in Kenya and it was a fatal one- he was kidnapped by what is believed to the government's dreaded "Flying Squad" and murdered, his body was discovered hundreds of miles away months later. https://thehaguetrials.co.ke/article/ruto-icc-witness-meshack-yebei-murdered-state Ruto was once again linked to Yebei's murder.
Post-Election Violence – This is self-explanatory, it is why he was at the ICC and there is a plethora of evidence directly linking Ruto to the macabre slayings.
1992 Tribal Clashes and beyond –Ruto is believed to be the mastermind of the perennial election cycle violence that started right at the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1992 where thousands of lives were lost, this gradually became his modus operandi that plagued the country up until the 2007 PEV. In short, violence is synonymous to William Ruto, it is part of his repertoire.
Corruption- Ruto has the unenviable moniker as "The High Priest of Corruption" who is shielded from being accountable by Kenyatta.
Eurobond Billions – This is the most recent one but I doubt if it's the last. Ruto's wing of the Jubilee coalition controls the Treasury which affords him unprecedented access and control of the Billions of shillings that the Treasury collects including the Eurobond loans which many Kenyans suspect he has been splurging on himself and his cronies – paying for his legal fees at The Hague; donating millions at fundraisers every month; inviting, paying for and hosting multiple lavish political pilgrimages of thousands of political leaders from around the country to his home as he campaigns for the presidency in 2022 (no president, much less a vice president, in the country's history has held and paid for such mammoth extravagant rallies numbering in the thousands of people per visit at their personal residencies – never mind that he can't explain how he affords to pay for them. Our founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and his three successors Moi, Kibaki and now his son Uhuru did not engage in such wasteful juvenile political showoffs, particularly not when the country's is questioning the whereabouts of Billions of shillings in Eurobond loan proceeds and strategic projects being cancelled left and right for lack of funding.
A slew of other corruption charges smear Ruto's character – besides the Eurobond, Ruto featured prominently in the following corruption scandals:
Grabbing land of an elderly PEV neighbor who, Mr. Adrian Muteshi's land in Eldoret. Despite his spirited fight to hold on to the land, the High court ruled against Ruto and ordered him to pay restitution of 5 Million Shillings in addition to surrendering the land to Mzee Muteshi. Ruto's name featured in the grabbing of Langata Primary School playground and had the Police tear gas protesting school children which even drew the Pope's attention. He also grabbed the adjacent plot belonging to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) where Weston Hotel stands. Ruto hijacked the procurement at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and inflated the costs to divert surplus money to put up a personal entity Ruto's name featured in the grabbing of Prisons land in Upper Hill Nairobi. He is also named as a land grabber Processional Way in Nairobi. He is also said to have bulldozed his way into extremely lucrative contracts with the government as a major insurer of government vehicles and other assets through AMACO, an insurance company he owns. As we approach the next general elections in 2017, the question that Kenyans would need to answers to as they go to the ballot box is whether or not this is the kind of character traits and reputation they want to keep to lead the country for another five years. I say think long and hard before you cast that vote.
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