Why have Ruto Kalenjin rebel MPs gone silent?

Though his boss has reportedly shown him the middle finger in running State affairs, deputy president William Ruto is resting easy after regaining total control of the Kalenjin community projected to be his biggest voting bloc in 2022.

The DP raised a storm last week after he was photographed tending to his Sugoi farm in Uasin Gishu county at a time many Kenyans expected him to be assisting Uhuru Kenyatta in containing the deadly corona virus pandemic.
Ruto, however, has been regularly sending tweets urging Kenyans to adhere to government directives stipulated to curb the spread of the disease.

But the DP is now sitting assured after taming the Kalenjin rebels, thereby cementing his position as the community’s kingpin.
Ruto has totally eclipsed Baringo senator Gideon Moi who was wrestling the control of the community from him ahead of the 2022 elections.

Gideon, who was handed former president Daniel arap’s Moi rungu by the family members, has not made inroads in wooing the community to his side.
The latest setback the senator suffered was the removal of Baringo county assembly deputy speaker allied to Kanu, Ameja Zelemoi, who is also Churo/Amaya ward rep.

He was ousted by the majority Jubilee MCAs on allegations of abuse of office.
The ouster motion was sponsored by the assembly’s majority leader Lawi Kipchumba and supported by 36 MCAs out of 45.

It was Mochongoi MCA Kipruto Kimosop who lifted the lid and opened a can of worms when he revealed that the impeachment was meant to send strong signals to Gideon that Baringo is a Jubilee stronghold and Kanu allied politicians from the region should desist from insulting the DP.

Days before the ouster, Gideon was glued to his television watching protests and chaos rock his county when supporters of the deputy president took to the streets to protest calls from a section of MPs for the DP’s resignation.

The protestors trained their blazing guns on Gideon’s ally, Baringo woman representative Gladwell Tungo, who was elected on Kanu ticket and who read a press statement at parliament buildings calling on the deputy president to step aside, claiming he had brought the DP’s office into disrepute as he was linked to multiple scandals.

William Kamket

For now, the deputy president commands total control of the Kalenjin community, the dominant ethnic group in Rift Valley, others being the Maasai, Turkana and Samburu, together forming the Kamatusa.
The Kalenjins are found in West Pokot, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Baringo, Nandi, Kericho and Bomet with pockets of them living in Nakuru and Narok counties.

The deputy president has cut to size rebel politicians who were giving him sleepless nights. They have all gone silent with analysts claiming, the ground is hostile to them.
The rebels include MPs William Kamket (Tiaty, Kanu), Silas Tiren (Moiben, Jubilee), Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills, Jubilee) and Joshua Kuttuny (Cherengany, Jubilee).

Other politicians from Rift Valley not seeing eye-to-eye with the deputy president include former ministers Franklin Bett, Henry Kosgey, Sally Kosgei, former Kuresoi MP Zakayo Cheruiyot, Isaac Ruto of Chama Cha Mashinani, businessmen Zedekiah Bundotich and David Langat.

Cherengany MP Joshua Kutuny

Of all the leaders, only Kamket and Kuttuny have remained adamant that Ruto will be stopped by all means from ascending to power in 2022.
The Tiaty MP and Kuttuny have been attending the Building Bridges Initiative rallies where the Cherengany MP has been throwing brickbats at the deputy president.

But Kuttuny rarely visits his constituency for fear of being heckled by the residents who are firmly behind the deputy president. Surprisingly, Tiren and Keter have not been spotted in BBI rallies.
Most of the other leaders opposed to Ruto have been giving the BBI rallies a wide berth, preferring to wait on the wings and see which direction the wind will blow.

According to sources, it was Ruto’s firm hold on the Kalenjins that led to cancellation of a BBI rally in Eldoret following a situational report by the National Intelligence Service warning over possible outbreak of violence.
The meeting had been set for March 21 with pundits billing it as the litmus test for the rallies that were defining the political truce between Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

The NIS document pointed to looming bloody clashes between supporters of Ruto and those of Raila.
Prior to the 2017 polls, the DP consolidated his support base by bringing all his rivals back into the fold as he galvanised support for Jubilee in the vote-rich region.
The Kalenjin rebels were then complaining that Jubilee had not fulfilled key campaign pledges and that Ruto had not used his influence to improve their lives.

They were citing the failure to resettle the Mau Forest evictees, poor payments to maize farmers and the DP’s inaccessibility as grounds for rejecting Jubilee.
The rebels included then Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto and MPs Oscar Sudi (Kapseret), Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Zakayo Cheruiyot (Kuresoi South) and then State House political affairs adviser Joshua Kuttuny.

Kuttuny made an abrupt about-turn and started flying in the same chopper with the deputy president.
He also hosted Ruto in Cherangany constituency before accompanying him to West Pokot ahead of the 2017 campaigns.

But some of the rebels led by Keter revolted against the DP soon after winning their seats in the 2017 polls, a revolt that threatened to crush the DP’s 2022 presidential ambitions.
The rebellion was led by the DP’s former allies who secretly schemed to jump ship from Jubilee while others kept away from his political activities.

The battle against him was fashioned around corruption and allegations that Kalenjin farmers had for the first time since independence been impoverished after the Jubilee administration took over.
The anti-Ruto brigade also accused powerful individuals in the ruling party of importing maize to frustrate local farmers and also thwart the government’s subsidies programme on fertiliser aimed at helping farmers.

The rebels included Buzeki, who at one time was quoted saying people think all Kalenjins are corrupt yet it’s just a few individuals like the deputy president who engage in graft and protecting cartels, thus damaging the name of the community.
It is at this juncture that details emerged of Isaac Ruto and Buzeki finalising a strategy to revamp Chama Cha Mashinani to team up with Gideon’s Kanu to whittle down Ruto’s grip on the vote-rich Rift Valley.

The CCM was also considering talking with ANC’s leader Musalia Mudavadi, Ford-Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula and leaders of other parties to form a new political alliance.
Buzeki, known for a sizeable financial war chest, even lead a 500-strong delegation from the North Rift to a meeting with Rutto and CCM officials.

The meeting took place at the home of the former Bomet county boss after Buzeki publicly denounced Jubilee.
Buzeki and Ruto agreed on a political deal that would see the former governor remain the party leader while Buzeki becomes the secretary general.
The plan was to revamp the party through massive rebranding and recruitment of new members ahead of a face-off with Jubilee in 2022.

The plan had the backing of three sitting governors, six MPs and five senators in the region along with Langat, a Mombasa-based tycoon from North Rift.
The key backers of the plan included Elgeyo-Marakwet governor Alex Tolgos who had ditched Jubilee in favour of Kanu.

For his part, the vocal Uasin Gishu governor Jackson Mandago had retreated from Ruto’s activities waiting to see which direction the wind was blowing.
Others waiting to see the wind’s direction were Uasin Gishu Senator Margaret Kamar, woman representative Gladys Shollei, Ainabkoi MP William Chepkut and Kesses MP Swarrup Mishra. Shollei has since joined the DP rallies.

Ruto’s rural MP Janet Koech (independent) had remained aloof in local politics but the Jubilee candidate, Kevin Okwara jumped ship from the party blaming the DP and his allies for snatching his victory just because he was not from the area.
Soy MP Caleb Kositany, Elgeyo Marakwet senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Ruto’s powerful aide Farouk Kibet are fully behind Ruto.

It was Kuttuny who revealed that the revolt was real and unstoppable, saying the DP had been losing his trusted political allies who were replaced by sycophants who only chase their personal interests.
Kuttuny, along with Keter and Tiren, kicked off a storm when they demanded that the DP be investigated for alleged involvement in graft.

But Ruto’s allies moved swiftly to de-whip the rebels from House committees only for the High Court to save them by reinstating them.
Tiren, Keter, Marakwet East MP Kangongo Bowen and Alex Kosgey of Emgwen had been recalled from House committees for allegedly colluding with National Super Alliance lawmakers to contest committee leadership, disregarding their party’s leadership.

Keter and Tiren were elected chairpersons of the Labour and Social Welfare and Agriculture committees respectively.
Keter defeated Ali Wario of Bura, who had been preferred by Ruto while Kangogo defeated Sophia Abdi of Ijara to become chairman of the Environment committee. The deputy president had endorsed Abdi.

Kosgey had unsuccessfully challenged Kieni MP Kanini Kega as chairman of the committee on trade.
The rebels further breathed a sigh of relief when the Court of Appeal reinstated them as MPs after losing petitions lodged against them at the High Court.

In what was interpreted as a blow to the deputy president, Kangongo was reinstated as MP by the Court of Appeal days after Justice Kanyi Kimondo of the High Court nullified his victory following a petition launched by a voter, Sammy Kemboi.

Days later, Keter survived at the Supreme Court after it dismissed a petition filed by his competitor, Bernard Kitur to nullify his win.
But for now Keter, Kangogo,Tiren and Buzeki, among other anti-Ruto forces have taken a low profile, raising speculations they could be planning to rejoin the DP’s camp. Only time will tell.