Love him or hate him, Deputy President William Ruto is a go getter who lets nothing stand in his way, making him the biggest winner of the outcome of Tuesday, August 9 historical Presidential battle.
Following a successful reelection of President Uhuru Kenyatta for a second and final term in office, his number two and preferred heir’s 2022 presidential bid received a major boost and remains well on course.
Number two’s enormous desire to inherit the crucial Central Kenya voting bloc, as a spring board for his already declared 2022 presidential bid, now seems more probable than ever after proving a gazillion of his critics wrong.
The National Super Alliance (NASA) flagbearer, Raila Odinga, during one of his campaigns, described Ruto as the bad cop in his and Uhuru’s political partnership.
Painting DP Ruto in bad light was a radical onslaught that largely raised the stakes and depicted the presidential race an indirect battle pitting the Opposition against Ruto who once wined and dined with Raila.
If Chebukati announced Raila the winner of the just concluded polls, Ruto’s ambition to be Kenya’s President in 2022 would have become one long pipe dream.
But Uhuru carried the day which has cemented Ruto’s central role within the Jubilee political equation.
Wins by DP Ruto’s key pointmen in his strategic Rift Valley, and felling of his enemies in the backyard has also made his dreams more practical.
Case in point is his well calculated and managed onslaught against mutiny by rebellious Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto who was made the fifth principal in the Opposition coalition. He lost his seat to Sotik MP Joyce Laboso, a key ally of the DP’s.
But once the dust settles, Ruto will have to restrategise after political nemesis and neighbour, Gideon Moi, recaptured his Baringo Senate seat. He too wants to have a taste of presidency like his dad before him.
