Opinion: Kenyatta chose the wrong side-kick

I have done much more than I was able to do in my first term in office, why? because I have been able to focus more, working with my colleagues and focus on the development agenda rather than the political agenda” – President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday 14th June 2021 at the State House

President Kenyatta is late to his own party. He is disregarding all the years and the coalition, which he created to get him elected in 2013 and 2017. The President is dismissing his Deputy and his side-kick William Ruto. In 2021 that’s not shocking, as the President and his associate have cleared the shop for TangaTanga associates and the ones representing the Hustler Nation.

We have seen this since the Presidential Handshake. The ODM and former CORD/NASA leader Raila Odinga got a more prominent role. They got a Task Force and a Programme. The two parties did merge and have a collective effort with the Building Bridges Initiative. The Constitutional Reform, which was legally flawed and wrongly introduced to the public. Which again has gotten into judicial jeopardy as the term is ending and the elections in 2022 is steaming ahead.

It is the time to have the next President and the ones to succeed Kenyatta. I wouldn’t be shocked if Kenyatta now announces that he wants to have Odinga as his successor and not Ruto. Because, the fallout have been on display and its been clear as day. The Jubilee and ODM have gotten together and under the same banner. While the TangaTanga haven’t been able to cope with the weird team-up.

Since Odinga and ODM was officially opposition and not a governing party. The ODM and other NASA affiliates was supposed to be the ones that checks and balances with government. Instead, they teamed up and the government had cleared the slate. The ODM was married to the cause and they invested it all in it as well. So, the failure of the BBI is a failure of not only Odinga, but Kenyatta too.

Kenyatta haven’t achieved the promises of 2013 and neither 2017. The Big Four isn’t close and the development projects isn’t viable. The President has only loans and scandals to his name. He has the Handshake, but not the Constitutional Reform to look at either. There is little to nothing he has produced. Other than feeding his cronies and keeping the cartels alive. That’s not much after 7 years and soon 8.

Kenyatta can blame Ruto for the first term, but he teamed up with him. He campaigned with him twice. They were the team that has used the state machinery to tear-gas, arrest and go after the CORD/NASA in the previous campaigns. The opposition coalition went through a lot and still got into an informal role with the government.

It is a reason why Kenyatta doesn’t mention what he has achieved, because there is clearly very little to show for it. He has had two terms and this is what he says. We know he has a shady and mediocre legacy. The President since 2013 should have more to prove and say he did. However, we know his been eating and so has his associates. That was his priorities and in the end that shows.

He can throw the Deputy overboard and say he did little. However, both of these fellas did little too nothing together. The only thing Kenyatta did with Odinga was more of the same, but with no real opposition. This is why he could run so smoothly after the handshake and only the Judiciary that has challenged him. Which is only following the laws and the constitution in doing so. The law everyone is supposed to follow, also the President.

Therefore, it seems that Kenyatta regrets that he went with Ruto. That was the team he went for and he succeeded with that twice. Even if the governing aspect didn’t work. If these gentlemen really didn’t work together. Still, you had the capacity to run campaigns and merge parties to become the united Jubilee. That dream seems to be forgetful now and we can only wonder what will happen to that in 2022. Peace.

Somalia: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – Press Statement (10.06.2021)

Kenya: The National Council of Churches of Kenya – Central Region – Give Kenya Peaceful and Credible General Elections 2022 (10.06.2021)

Kenya: KLM Diaspora Caucus – Kenya Diaspora Stands with the Judiciary and Revisits the Consequences of Uhuru’s Choices (08.06.2021)

Kenya: Office of the Former Chief Justice Dr. Will Mutunga letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta – Mr. President in the Name of the Constitution, Simply Swear in the Six Judges (08.06.2021)

Kenya: The Judiciary – Statement on Appointment and Swearing-In of 34 Judges (04.06.2021)

Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association: Press Statement of the Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association on the President’s Selective Appointment of Judges (04.06.2021)

Kenya: Linda Katiba is a coalition of Kenyan patriots dedicated to advancing the Kenya people struggle for freedom, equality, prosperity and a just government (03.06.2021)

Kenya: Okoa Uchumi Campaign – Media Statement on the IMF-Kenya Program – Kenyans meeting the cost of corruption (02.06.2021)

Opinion: Kenyatta your actions is the reason for the lack of development

What is important is to ask ourselves where we will get if we continue with this kind of politics which we have had in this country. There is no developed country anywhere in the world that has achieved the social, political, and economic aspirations of her people with a start and stop kind of politics” – President Uhuru Kenyatta (28.05.2021)

President Kenyatta and his Jubilee Administration is soon finished with his second term in office. By this time the legacy is already written and he cannot return the lost years. Uhuru has had the time and the ability to change the pattern, if he wanted too. However, that hasn’t happened and here we are.

Kenyatta will be known for rehashed debt-cycle, which will cripple the economy for decades. Unless, Captain-Save-A-Ho comes the Republic’s way and they need to swallow another ‘Structural Adjustment Plan’ from the IMF and World Bank. Kenyatta knows this, but he has eaten Eurobonds and other sorts of grifts over the years.

The President has also been part of grand corruption cases. His cabinet secretaries and appointees to parastatals was also involved in this. The State Owned Enterprises and other too. That was just the business of the day. Create fake companies, tenders and sell overpriced inventory. Repack the maize, sugar and whatnot to sell it after storage to serve the cartels.

Kenyatta knows all of this. He has had his cronies and allowed it all to go down. The proof is in the action of the state and their allies. The Parliament and the Cabinet have all allowed it to happen. They have all participated and not kept things on the up-and-up. They have misused their time in office and eaten of the government plate. Issued loans, eaten corrupt deals and done ditto of service deliver to the general public.

President Kenyatta will not have a legacy worth remembering. He has assaulted the judiciary, the institutions and the state itself for his own selfish reasons. The President knows this and has done it deliberately.

With all the time in office. He could have left something worthwhile behind. However, his own businesses, estates and personal domain has mattered more. Kenyatta wanted one big legislation passed and be his final end. As the President never had the time to finish the Big Four or any other significant promise of the past.

That’s because it’s all been a publicity stunt and he haven’t even tried. The Building Bridges has been a smokescreen and bought the President time. The reason why he has invested all this is not only to trade-off the opposition, but to finally have something to point at as an achievement. Because, there is nothing else to look at. Except for the decaying economy and depleted state coffers. Which is an exceptional failure, but an achievement nevertheless.

President Kenyatta will not be remembered with fondness. He has misused his chances and didn’t even try. That’s at least how it looks from the outside looking in. The one taking over from in 2022 have a lot of issues to tackle.

The ever-lingering cartels, grand corruption and misuse of state enterprises. The cronyism and nepotism will not stop overnight. The state is accepting all of this and the head of state is signing off. As he hires people and appoints his “yes-men” to whatever office he can. Therefore, there is no way he will get questioned or even held accountable. Peace