President Uhuru Kenyatta could be indirectly campaigning for his Deputy William Ruto to take over after his second term in office comes to an end in August this year. This is according to Murang’ a senator Irungu Kang’ ata.
Through his weekly column in one of the local dailies, Kang’ ata opined that the head of state could be indirectly supporting his deputy, using what he termed as reverse psychology to attain his goal.
According to Kang’ ata, Uhuru could be lying to Raila while fronting Ruto indirectly as the government’ s candidate.
” Is there a possibility that Uhuru actually wants Ruto to win but is using reverse psychology to achieve this goal? Is Raila being fooled and getting the impression the state is behind him when Ruto is actually the desired government candidate? ” he posed.
While supporting his argument, Kang’ ata said Uhuru understands very well the notion of ‘ sympathy politics’ in Kenya and could be using the same to propel Ruto forward.
He said there is no way that Uhuru, who has thrived through sympathy votes in the past, will be creating the same atmosphere for his deputy and fail to understand.
” In 2002, he gunned for the presidency and lost on account of being a newbie. His political fortunes changed for the better on sympathy after his arraignment before ICC on allegations he was among those behind post- election violence in the aftermath of the 2007 elections, ” he added
The Muranga county senator said Uhuru ought to know that his government’ s humiliation of Ruto through mistreatment by junior ministers does nothing but fuel further sympathy for his deputy.
He added that it is through the same ‘ mistreatments’ that Ruto has created a cult following in Uhuru’ s Mt Kenya backyard. He said Uhuru should be knowing that reports of Ruto’ s office allegedly being denied funds and various crackdowns on his office and team are working in favour of Ruto and not Raila.
” I refuse to believe that Uhuru, with his deep knowledge of politics, both as a matter of practice and schooling, does not know how government weaponization of state institutions such as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations has helped build Ruto a cult following in Central, ” he said
Kang’ ata also added that Uhuru’ s very unpopular policies a few months into the general elections have worked in favour of Ruto. He cited the recent sharp rise in food commodities saying it usually works for any politician vying on an opposition platform like Ruto.
