How Uhuru's name is torturing Ruto and building the opposition cause

The name of former President Uhuru Kenyatta has now become a big campaign agenda of the opposition grouping that seeks to make President William Ruto a one-term president.

And the agenda seems to be working if how the president's camp is reacting to the Kenyatta effect is reacting.

Besides being said that Mr Kenyatta is the one sponsoring the presidential candidature of his former powerful CS Dr Fred Matiang'i, the opposition is now using his name to invoke emotions in the vast political, economic and social networks that the former head of state still enjoys even in his retirement. 

Mr Kenyatta has also come out in the recent past as a man seeking to run away with the youthful voting block.

He started by defending the Gen Z-led protests that rocked the country in June 2024 fuelled by the Finance Bill 2024, poor governance, and opulence among key government figures.

Mr Kenyatta has over the past 10 months maintained a sustained support for the youths, urging them to fight for what is rightfully theirs.

Even when President Ruto visited Mr Kenyatta at his Ichaweri home in December 2024, creating an impression of a handshake, the former head of state has continued to support the youths, urging them to make their demands well known through constitutionally accepted pressure.

Mr Kenyatta has insisted that the country has a problem of fear peddlers and who do not understand power is transient.

"The problem with some is peddling fear ..do not buy it. Nothing lasts forever. Gen Z are the story of the future... Everything is worth a fight. Don't just stay there to later complain when you achieve nothing," he said on January 17, 2025.

It is these kind of utterances by Mr Kenyatta that are instilling political emotions as a recipe for 2027 campaigns.

"Mr Kenyatta is a big asset in the 2027 political game plan of the major contest wings. He comes from an ethnic background that commands 47 percent of the current government. It is estimated that the Mountain might reach the voting day with at least 8 million votes," says Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology don Mr Charles Mwangi.

Mr Mwangi adds that "Mr Kenyatta also comes into the fray loaded with fabulous wealth in a game where war chest matters".

The don adds that "Mr Kenyatta also comes wearing a statesman tag that can help in diplomatic approach in how the 2027 voting day relates with the international community".

Mr Kenyatta is also rated as a man enjoying entrenched roots in the country's ‘deep state’ owing to the longstanding presence his family has enjoyed in the political arena of the nation. 

"The founding father of the nation, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, was his dad. The colonial administration as it left made sure it was friends with the Kenyatta family. The second President Mr Daniel Moi invested his trust in the Kenyatta family to a point he unsuccessfully tried to make Uhuru Kenyatta his successor in 2002," says political analyst Mr John Okumu.

Mr Okumu adds that the third president Mr Mwai Kibaki ensured that Mr Kenyatta succeeded him in 2013.

"Mr Kenyatta went ahead to rule the country for 10 years until 2022. This tells of a family that has serious networks even in the country's security vaults. There are those serving in sensitive dockets who trace their genesis of success in the Kenyatta family," he said.

Such that, it is said that it is only normal that when Mr Kenyatta's name is invoked in the political conflict building up in the country, it is bound to cause ripples and excite many actors, spreading panic to those profiled as his opponents.

And it has started in earnest with President Ruto's pointman Mr Farouk Kibet already directing National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah to come up with a Bill of parliament seeking to bar Mr Kenyatta from engaging in politics.

"We want all retired heads of state to be refraining from joining sectarian political wings. We want them to be keeping the peace or else we withdraw their retirement benefits," Mr Kibet told Mr Ichung'wah in a recent political function they both graced.

The response from the opposition has been instant with former Deputy President Mr Rigathi Gachagua hitting out at the president's wing accusing it of launching a high profile hate and smear campaign against the former head of state.

Mr Gachagua while speaking on Sunday at his Wamunyoro political nerve centre, pinned the perceived persecutions against Mr Kenyatta on President Ruto's face.

"We know that you're the one sending your attack dogs to disparage the good standings of our community leader Kenyatta. If you are man enough, don't send your protege… insult Mr Kenyatta directly and that is when you will know what mettle Mt Kenya is made of," Mr Gachagua said.

Mr Gachagua added that "you recently toured Mt Kenya for six(6) days where I as the area leader directed my people to receive you with respect and listen to your lies in peace, but charge you a stipend for showing up in your rallies".

Mr Gachagua added that "if you continue disrespecting and undermining Mr Kenyatta, I'll ensure that your next visit to Mt Kenya will be charged and hostile".

He added that "men and women will scream at you and the youths of Mt Kenya chase you out of this region...to be safe, stop this nonsense of attacking Mr Kenyatta".

It is a political line that Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka immediately grabbed and factorised, saying that "Mr Kenyatta today sent me greetings to you and I also join my brother Gachagua in declaring total combat with all those hellbent to undermine him".

Mr Musyoka who was among Wamunyoro entourage on Sunday, warned that "should you table that Bill seeking to curtail the freedom of speech and association against former president, we will collectively deal with it both in the National Assembly, the Senate and in the public court".

According to political analyst Prof Peter Kagwanja, "anyone advising president Ruto's wing to pick a quarrel with the Kenyattas is doing him a huge political damage since it is bound to backfire".

"Currently, the opposition is trying hard to build Ruto as a bogeyman in all vote baskets that include Mt Kenya, parts of Rift Valley, Eastern and Western regions as well as in the Omogusii community," he said.

He added that "those defending Mr Kenyatta are bound to be seen as heroes of safeguarding respects while those fighting him are bound to emerge as villains...it is the sole decision of President Ruto to chose where he seeks to be".

He added that "by virtue of Mr Kenyatta endorsing and campaigning for Raila Odinga in the 2022 presidential vote...it will be hard for the Odinga brigade to help Ruto fight Mr Kenyatta".

He added that "fighting Mr Kenyatta will leave the President Ruto rule isolated and that is exactly what the opposition wants to be the case earliest possible in the countdown to 2027 polls".

As the Kenyatta effect takes political centre stage, he has remained vague and refrained from any direct commitment to any of the combatants. 

"I look forward to the day Mr Kenyatta will publicly show up in any of the anti-Ruto alliance meeting...or, he releases a statement that clarifies the many grey areas around his involvement of 2027 politics. But I think his silence is good torture for the incumbent and a flavour in the opposition brother," says political analyst Mr Gasper Odhiambo.