Raila allies say Ruto is missing the point on the weekly protests

In the eyes of President William Ruto’s administration, the ongoing anti-government demonstrations are a plot by opposition leader Raila Odinga to gain political currency.

To those in the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, Raila’s grievances - the soaring cost of living and electoral reforms - are but a ruse in his quest to win a share of the government, a strategy they accuse him of employing in successive regimes.

Their apparent belief is that he is taking advantage of the plight of many Kenyans, suffering under the weight of rising commodity prices, to push the stated political agendum. 

But the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya leader has been adamant that the struggle is and has never been about him, and that he is only responding to the cries of Kenyans, the hustlers Ruto promised lower food and commodity prices during the campaigns.

Further, he has expressed interest in ensuring an inclusive process of recruiting electoral commissioners, even as he wants an audit of last year’s election, which he claims to have won despite the Supreme Court’s finding that the president was validly elected.

Government officials have criticised the former prime minister, who they seemingly see as almost a nuisance in the wake of the subsequent protests Raila has called.

On Friday, the president said he would take Raila on after essentially outlawing the three protests that the Azimio has planned for  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

“There will be no protests in Kenya... they have decided to hold protests, and we shall meet,” he said in Naivasha.

A day earlier, Ruto had accused former President Uhuru Kenyatta of allegedly co-sponsoring the protests with Raila, vowing that he would not budge in his confrontation with the opposition.

He spoke in Tharaka Nithi, where Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua termed Raila “Kenya’s problem” following Wednesday’s bloody protests.

“Mr President, do not listen to anyone intending to bring that person (Raila) close to you. Raila Odinga is the source of the problems Kenyans are facing and they will end when Raila is stopped,” Gachagua said.

Stopping Raila has been on the lips of many within the Kenya Kwanza alliance. It was the overarching message during yesterday’s road-launching event in Naivasha.

“We will stop you Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga. The people of Kenya shall stop you by all means possible... to defend our country and democracy and lives and property of our people,” National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa said.

For weeks now, some have called for Raila’s arrest for convening the demos, a right guaranteed by the Constitution, arguing that “no one was above the law”.

Threat of action

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and his Transport colleague Kipchumba Murkomen made the remarks on Thursday, intended as a threat of action against Raila and the Azimio leadership. 

On the flip side, Azimio has argued that the government is deliberately trying to personalise its struggle into a Raila affair to avoid addressing the skyrocketing cost of living.

“We know they are getting it very wrong and missing the point that what Kenyans have started is a self-propelling movement. It has never been and it will never be about an individual. Just like the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. or the detention of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi did not stop the march for civil rights and freedom in the US, South Africa and India, no amount of shooting, teargas or even assassination will stop the march of history in this country,” the former premier said Tuesday as he once again alleged to be the target of an assassination plot the previous Friday.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said Ruto and his allies were turning the protests into a Raila affair because “they fear the people more than Raila”.

“They know the maandamano is not about Raila but the people whose pain they have chosen to ignore. They are hoping that by making it about Raila they can retain the support of their ethnic bases who have been socialized to dislike Raila but it’s not working because everyone irrespective of their tribe and ethnicity is tired of their lies,” said the Orange Democratic Movement secretary-general. 

When Raila called for protests earlier this year, the demos were mainly concentrated in his strongholds of Nyanza and sections of Nairobi. Ruto and Gachagua rubbed the said fact in, a move initially seen by Azimio as aiming to profile certain regions.

Recent’s protests have taken place in the unlikeliest of counties, some within Gachagua’s Mt Kenya backyard. On Wednesday, protesters across the country took to the streets to call for lower food prices amid steadily rising unga prices.

Hungry and angry

Some observers contend that by taking the war to Raila, Ruto is missing the point that is the plea of many Kenyans finding it difficult to survive the current economic harshness.

“William Ruto needs to realise that this is no longer about Raila Odinga and start addressing concerns that Kenyans across the country are raising,” political commentator Pauline Njoroge said in the wake of Wednesday’s protests, undoubtedly the grandest in terms of scale, roping in 20 out of 47 counties.

“People are angry and hungry; they are suffering from the heavy burden he has placed on them from the increased cost of fuel and electricity, as well as increases in taxes which have not only affected the price of basic commodities but are leading to massive layoffs since employers can no longer sustain various demands that come with running a business or a company,” Njoroge added.

“There are two types of men. ‘...The reasonable man ADAPTS himself to the world; the unreasonable man INSISTS that the world adapts to him. In the END, all progress depends on the unreasonable man’ (Bernard Shaw). Ruto is the unreasonable man. Adapt or PERISH,” commentator Mutahi Ngunyi tweeted.

But there are those who believe that Raila is, indeed, the stumbling block and should be brought to book.

“Raila is at it AGAIN...staking his claim for co-president with President William Ruto. He is causing chaos and mayhem after losing the presidential election of 2022. President William Ruto should appoint him co-president or decisively crush Raila’s INSURGENCY once and for all. Unleashing violence after losing a presidential election so that he is ‘bought off the streets’ is Hon Raila’s well-trodden path,” lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi tweeted.

On Thursday, a section of the clergy asked Ruto to listen to the people and address their concerns about the cost of living and the Finance Act that they said would pile on Kenyans a heavy tax burden.