MAKAU MUTUA TAKES A SWIPE AT WILLIAM RUTO

[phil]

Opinion
Ruto’s undoing is that he’s a rebel without a cause


By MAKAU MUTUA
Posted Saturday, January 7 2012 at 20:15

Eldoret North MP William Samoei arap Ruto is a man without a “home”. Supporters are leaving his side in droves.

Finally, the man’s chickens appear to be coming home to roost.

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Mr Ruto seems clueless which way to turn. His fulminations ring hollow. His options have narrowed to zero.

That’s called a political cul de sac. How could a man with such a gift of the gab — and a brilliant strategic mind — bring himself uncoerced to the edge of the political precipice? Methinks I know why — Mr Ruto is a rebel without a cause.

His elephantine ego — and unbridled hubris — will be his demise. That’s what my crystal ball tells me.

A sycophant at a UDM rally in December wore a T-shirt emblazoned “Ruto the Hustler”.

I don’t know whether that knucklehead meant the caption as a compliment. I agree that “to hustle” may mean the virtuous “to strive”.

But on a T-shirt, the word is likely to be given its popular seedier dictionary meaning. In slang — which is common parlance — a “hustler” is one who “obtains money dishonestly” or a “prostitute”.

I am not making this up — check it out yourself. Was the T-shirt meant to be a true irony, a compliment, or give a double meaning?

This is precisely Mr Ruto’s problem — he says one thing, but does and means another. What you see isn’t what you get.

Since the early 1990s, when he was a pivotal player in YK’92, Mr Ruto has built his political career on a falsely manufactured siege mentality among the Kalenjin.

He’s cordoned off “his people” and bamboozled them. He portrayed himself as the “defender of the Kalenjin”.

That’s how he used his tribal cunning to slay former president Daniel arap Moi’s towering legacy among the Kalenjin.

He’s the reason the Kalenjin were the only community to vote against the Constitution. But I have news for Mr Ruto.

The Kalenjin are finally seeing through his charade. Multitudes are increasingly calling his bluff. You can take this to the local bank — Mr Ruto has lost his iron grip among the Kalenjin.

Those who have eyes can see. General John Koech— a retired but respected military leader — recently trashed Mr Ruto.

In a scathing attack that would have been unthinkable several months ago, Gen Koech all but called Mr Ruto a “charlatan”.

The good general “called out” Mr Ruto and pointedly told him he didn’t have the backing of Kalenjin elders, youth and senior professionals.

Gen Koech has said what many Kalenjins have wanted to say, but couldn’t or wouldn’t.

My crystal ball tells me that the general speaks for the vast majority of the Kalenjin who don’t want to be isolated from other Kenyans to feed Mr Ruto’s gargantuan ego and ambitions. Mr Ruto’s days atop the Kalenjin are gone.

His tactics are classic ethnic-baiting. He can’t thrive without stoking ethnic divisions and tensions. That’s the blueprint of every ethnic baron.

Take, for example, Mr Ruto’s “grievances” against Prime Minister Raila Odinga. In all of them, Mr Ruto projected himself as the “saviour” of the Kalenjin.

He opposed Mr Odinga’s move to save the Mau Complex, Kenya’s critical water tower. It’s not in dispute that squatters within Mau Complex were illegal, and had to be evicted.

But Mr Ruto spun the conservation of the Mau Complex as an assault on the Kalenjin.

This was baloney meant to undermine Mr Odinga’s overwhelming support among the Kalenjin. Mr Ruto couldn’t stand to lose his lone grip among the Kalenjin.

False yarn

The MP also spun the false yarn that Mr Odinga had “engineered” the charges for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

It’s true the PM is an “engineer” by training, but only a paranoid mind can believe he has the power to “orchestrate” the ICC.

Not even ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo can tell the court’s judges what to do.

The ICC isn’t like the Kenyan courts of yesteryear. It’s an independent court driven by nothing but the evidence.

The ICC has no interest in protecting Mr Odinga. I suggest that Mr Ruto looks in the mirror first before accusing others of plotting his downfall.

Gen Koech put it perfectly when he said that Mr Ruto has no genuine grievances against Mr Odinga.

He accused Mr Ruto of using the Mau Complex and the ICC to “justify” his rebellion against Mr Odinga for the anti-reform forces keen on stopping the PM from ascending to State House.

Gen Koech added a zinger to underscore just how Mr Ruto’s fortunes have plummeted among the Kalenjin.

He said that Mr Ruto’s “campaign is based on propaganda against Mr Odinga but the lies have started evaporating”. That’s a dagger to the heart.

Mr Ruto should know this – you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.

There’s a moral lesson in Mr Ruto’s changing fortunes. The lesson is that Kenya is changing from primarily an agrarian tribal society to a modern political democracy.

My view is that the new Constitution is the linchpin for this epochal transformation. The centre of politics will move from tribal barons to issues.

Ethnic groups will still mean a lot, but they’ll be trumped by individual rights and matters that affect the public commons.

We will still have some tribal demigods but, like Mr Ruto, they will become irrelevant dinosaurs.

Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.

[mwalimumkuu]

Phil,

The next time you meet Makau Mutua, tell him to come home and talk to people here. He will get the true picture than listening to Gen Koech on youtube video.

We have said here before that no one is inventing the wheel as far as the Kenyan politics is concerned. These are the usual activities we witness every election year. What counts at the end of it all is how many votes one gets.

Mutua and his like minded folks will need to revisit the history of ODM and PNU and therein lie their answers. Whereas ODM was all over out living rooms for five years, PNU was only crafted a month to elections, the rest is history.

[Omwenga]

Jan 7, 2012 21:52:53 GMT 3 phil said:

Opinion
Ruto’s undoing is that he’s a rebel without a cause


By MAKAU MUTUA
Posted Saturday, January 7 2012 at 20:15

Eldoret North MP William Samoei arap Ruto is a man without a “home”. Supporters are leaving his side in droves.

Finally, the man’s chickens appear to be coming home to roost.

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Mr Ruto seems clueless which way to turn. His fulminations ring hollow. His options have narrowed to zero.

That’s called a political cul de sac. How could a man with such a gift of the gab — and a brilliant strategic mind — bring himself uncoerced to the edge of the political precipice? Methinks I know why — Mr Ruto is a rebel without a cause.

His elephantine ego — and unbridled hubris — will be his demise. That’s what my crystal ball tells me.

A sycophant at a UDM rally in December wore a T-shirt emblazoned “Ruto the Hustler”.

I don’t know whether that knucklehead meant the caption as a compliment. I agree that “to hustle” may mean the virtuous “to strive”.

But on a T-shirt, the word is likely to be given its popular seedier dictionary meaning. In slang — which is common parlance — a “hustler” is one who “obtains money dishonestly” or a “prostitute”.

I am not making this up — check it out yourself. Was the T-shirt meant to be a true irony, a compliment, or give a double meaning?

This is precisely Mr Ruto’s problem — he says one thing, but does and means another. What you see isn’t what you get.

Since the early 1990s, when he was a pivotal player in YK’92, Mr Ruto has built his political career on a falsely manufactured siege mentality among the Kalenjin.

He’s cordoned off “his people” and bamboozled them. He portrayed himself as the “defender of the Kalenjin”.

That’s how he used his tribal cunning to slay former president Daniel arap Moi’s towering legacy among the Kalenjin.

He’s the reason the Kalenjin were the only community to vote against the Constitution. But I have news for Mr Ruto.

The Kalenjin are finally seeing through his charade. Multitudes are increasingly calling his bluff. You can take this to the local bank — Mr Ruto has lost his iron grip among the Kalenjin.

Those who have eyes can see. General John Koech— a retired but respected military leader — recently trashed Mr Ruto.

In a scathing attack that would have been unthinkable several months ago, Gen Koech all but called Mr Ruto a “charlatan”.

The good general “called out” Mr Ruto and pointedly told him he didn’t have the backing of Kalenjin elders, youth and senior professionals.

Gen Koech has said what many Kalenjins have wanted to say, but couldn’t or wouldn’t.

My crystal ball tells me that the general speaks for the vast majority of the Kalenjin who don’t want to be isolated from other Kenyans to feed Mr Ruto’s gargantuan ego and ambitions. Mr Ruto’s days atop the Kalenjin are gone.

His tactics are classic ethnic-baiting. He can’t thrive without stoking ethnic divisions and tensions. That’s the blueprint of every ethnic baron.

Take, for example, Mr Ruto’s “grievances” against Prime Minister Raila Odinga. In all of them, Mr Ruto projected himself as the “saviour” of the Kalenjin.

He opposed Mr Odinga’s move to save the Mau Complex, Kenya’s critical water tower. It’s not in dispute that squatters within Mau Complex were illegal, and had to be evicted.

But Mr Ruto spun the conservation of the Mau Complex as an assault on the Kalenjin.

This was baloney meant to undermine Mr Odinga’s overwhelming support among the Kalenjin. Mr Ruto couldn’t stand to lose his lone grip among the Kalenjin.

False yarn

The MP also spun the false yarn that Mr Odinga had “engineered” the charges for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

It’s true the PM is an “engineer” by training, but only a paranoid mind can believe he has the power to “orchestrate” the ICC.

Not even ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo can tell the court’s judges what to do.

The ICC isn’t like the Kenyan courts of yesteryear. It’s an independent court driven by nothing but the evidence.

The ICC has no interest in protecting Mr Odinga. I suggest that Mr Ruto looks in the mirror first before accusing others of plotting his downfall.

Gen Koech put it perfectly when he said that Mr Ruto has no genuine grievances against Mr Odinga.

He accused Mr Ruto of using the Mau Complex and the ICC to “justify” his rebellion against Mr Odinga for the anti-reform forces keen on stopping the PM from ascending to State House.

Gen Koech added a zinger to underscore just how Mr Ruto’s fortunes have plummeted among the Kalenjin.

He said that Mr Ruto’s “campaign is based on propaganda against Mr Odinga but the lies have started evaporating”. That’s a dagger to the heart.

Mr Ruto should know this – you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.

There’s a moral lesson in Mr Ruto’s changing fortunes. The lesson is that Kenya is changing from primarily an agrarian tribal society to a modern political democracy.

My view is that the new Constitution is the linchpin for this epochal transformation. The centre of politics will move from tribal barons to issues.

Ethnic groups will still mean a lot, but they’ll be trumped by individual rights and matters that affect the public commons.

We will still have some tribal demigods but, like Mr Ruto, they will become irrelevant dinosaurs.

Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.

Phil,

I completely agree with what the good professor has said in this piece much the same thing I have been saying and continue to preach on my blog, most recently in omwenga.com/2011/12/22/noose-is-tighetening-on-ruto-countdown-to-my-last-plea-to-him/.

Prof. Makau has taken words off my mouth in the final part of a 7-part series I have dedicated to Ruto which I may yet pen but maybe not if Ruto heeds to the counsel I have been giving him to mend faces and return to ODM or chose remain on the path is on very likely to nowhere other than ending up politically irrelevant for at least the next 5 years.

[joblesscorner]

Name a Presidential Candidate who travel all Kenya beside RAO and still has a crowd?
How many votes did Ruto get from No campaign?
As much as I dont like the word Hustla, the Man knows how to hustle and he will strive.
Yes Gen Koech is a respected Rt General in army, but who knew him until a few months ago.
Go to Tononoka, Uhuru, Nakuru grounds, kondele, Ruto still can pull a huge Rally. Gen Koech and NEC, please give us a break and hold an election.
The Prof from New York should stop watching youtube clips and just updates us on Republic Party Debates and the next caucus in New Hampshire.

[phil]

Jan 8, 2012 4:49:33 GMT 3 mwalimumkuu said:

Phil,

The next time you meet Makau Mutua, tell him to come home and talk to people here. He will get the true picture than listening to Gen Koech on youtube video.

We have said here before that no one is inventing the wheel as far as the Kenyan politics is concerned. These are the usual activities we witness every election year. What counts at the end of it all is how many votes one gets.

Mutua and his like minded folks will need to revisit the history of ODM and PNU and therein lie their answers. Whereas ODM was all over out living rooms for five years, PNU was only crafted a month to elections, the rest is history.

Mwalimu,

I guess you, a fifth rate blog contributor, can advise a veteran Op-Ed contributor to the region's leading news publication!

Why dont you just try and argue out what Mutua has put forth? What is Ruto's ideology? What's his vision for Kenya?

Ruto is finding out too late in the day that taking over a party is easier said and done. And after being bailed out and escaping an auctioneers hammer, idiot Jirongo is following Ruto everywhere oblivious to the fact that he, Jirongo, is actually KADDU party leader and the only serving MP. Dont tell me you cannot see the stupidity?

Believe you me, people can see right through the charade. It's boring to be told continuously for four years what Raila Odinga has not done! It's about time we were told what UDM and William Ruto can do for Kenya. What is their agenda for land reforms, especially in Rift Valley? How about grand corruption and impunity?

[justfacts]

Its too early in the game to see where things go, just a few months back it seemed the Uhuru Ruto brigade was unassailable but now it is all but a distant memory. And now that kind of mud-sling-politics is tired old news.

The decisive date for all the main protagonists for 2012 is the ICC verdict. That will change the game more than the outcome of Koech - Ruto rivalry. That date will see Ruto gain renewed traction or fizzle out of the political scene for good. For now its probably better for him to take time out.

Secondly, in the past two elections the winning parties were cobbled up within weeks to the poll date so its of less importance whether Ruto takes the reigns in UDM than what force he can martial more or less along tribal lines like the rest of other contenders. With that it won't matter if he joins even a party named after some vehicle component.

Mutua comments are more on current sway of political winds rather than long or even mid term outlook. He can seem very right today but tomorrow the wind blow the other way and he aptly pens an analysis in the same direction. This comes out more so when i compare him to Mutahi Ngunyi before he went off the rails from the very same 'regions leading news publication.'

ICC is giving sleepless nights to all contenders to the throne - and the game begins when the 2 ICC big shots are weeded out (or not) from the race to the house on the hill. And that too is only weeks (or days) away......