By Emman Ozoemena
The events of the last few weeks from Nairobi, Kenya regarding the impeachment of the country’s Deputy President, Rigathi Gachugua, the business turned politician, who has been in the saddle along with President William Ruto for two years now is true to type. Though, it is depressing, it represents how far political leaders can go in the effort to consolidate powers, neglecting the weightier matters of economic development and progress, which is the core purpose of governance.
The sprawling East African country has preoccupied the attention of African political watchers in the last couple of months by two scores. Firstly, the youth led protests, which spread like wildfire across the country. The street protest put Kenya on the spot for several months, culminating in the dissolution of the cabinet by President Ruto, the acclaimed leader of ‘the Hustlers nation’ which was the tagline for his campaign to presidency in 2022.
Ruto won in a high pitch electoral contest, prevailing over his former boss and ally, President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom he coincidentally had fallen out of favour, after serving for 10 years as his deputy president from 2013 to 2022.
The two men were initially political opponents,having fought a bitter political battles apart in opposing political divide in a previous election, resulting into violence, as both were charged at the International Criminal Court, in Rome for inciting genocide and crimes against humanity due to violence from the election. They denied the charges and the court subsequently dismissed the case as against for lack of witnesses
In the run up the 2013, election Kenyatta and Ruto formed the Jubilee Coalition as a special purpose to wrest power from the then outgoing president, Mwai Kibaki, wh from his body language was not likely to hand over power to the duo of Kenyatta and Ruto, his estranged political opponents that fought from all cylinders as presidential candidates of opposition political parties.
They won and subsequently re-elected for a second tenure. It was not until the end of his second tenure as president that Kenyatta demonstrated publicly a disdain to see Ruto as his potential successor, but had preferred veteran politician, Raila Odinga, a former prime minister of Kenya to take over from him as the next president.
Ruto, the chicken farmer, knowing that he has met the brick wall, quickly cultivated new coalitions and allies, with the deputy president, Gachugua as a new political bride. Proton the Kenya Kwanza Coalition which included other political parties and big wigs in Kenyan politics, won the election with a narrow margin. The duo, Ruto and Gachugua were happy that they had won the big prize, which President Kenyatta wanted to deny them.
For former PM Odinga, the leader of Azimio La Umja coalition that marked the end of a long political career, which many hoped would have culminated in accession as the President of Kenya. He announced his retirement from politics, leaving behind the legacy as a second generation politician as his father, Oginga Odinga was previously a leading nationalist for Kenya’s independence.
The emerging political development in Kenya relating to the impeachment of Kenya’s deputy president opens a new dynamic for constitutional democracy in Africa, in which leaders who rose to power through coalitions and allies tend to capitulate after winning elections.
Recall that Ruto desperately needed to build a coalition with his deputy president, Rigathi Gachugua in the run up to the 2022 elections in Kenya to enable him to clinch the presidency with a narrow margin. It was seen by many analysts as the smartest political decision on his path to the presidency.
Perhaps, now Ruto may be making efforts to consolidate power, and has had to ditch his deputy Gachugua via a convoluted impeachment procedure in the Kenyan parliament.
It will be interesting to see how the political scenario plays out as the impeached deputy president turns to the judiciary for rescue. How much help can the judiciary offer to him? Can the tide be halted and he gets his position back as the deputy president? The coming days and weeks might be pregnant with surprises, as they say in Africa proverbs.
No matter the outcomes of this political battle, it will definitely help to define the tempers and momentum as well as the future of Kenyan politics in the 2028 elections. Many African watchers will be keen to monitor how the judiciary in Kenya responds to the litigations by the deputy president Gachugua in seeking for justice.
As the new dynamics unfold in the coming weeks,Ruto and his co-travellers, the night of long knives may well have begun in earnest. Only time will time, says, the old sage.
Ozoemena, is a policy consultant based in Abuja, Nigeria.
©Emman Ozoemena 18/10/2024