Will Ruto Survive? – Weekly Citizen

A peculiar thing happened last week where Uhuru Kenyatta left many Kenyans guessing on what he wrote in a note passed to Baringo senator Gideon Moi at the inauguration of the Lake Turkana wind project in Marsabit county.
In a short video clip that has since gone viral on social media, the left-handed Uhuru is seen scribbling down a note and passing it on to the Baringo senator.
But even before it reached the senator, the president was already laughing and the reaction by Gideon made it clear that Uhuru had sent him something hilarious as the senator could not contain himself as he burst out in laughter as Uhuru cheekily looked on suggesting they were discussing something funny or someone on the podium or a top political leader.
It was in the same week that reports emerged that detectives investigating the Sh21 billion dams scandal had obtained CCTV footage from Rome, Italy, showing that William Ruto on December 4, last year, met Italian officials involved in the construction of the Arror and Kimwarer dams.

DP Ruto and Rotich

The CCTV footage proves that the meeting between Ruto and CMC Di Ravenna officials took place and is part of the evidence the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji will present before court in the criminal case against sacked Treasury cabinet secretary Henry Rotich and principal secretary Kamau Thugge among others.
Besides the CCTV footage, detectives managed to latch onto loaded communication between Ruto aides and the Italians.
The question in the minds of many Kenyans is the content of the hilarious note, with some guessing that the president told Gideon to start acting like a head of state since his major opponent, Ruto, was headed to political oblivion due to his association with corruption.
Already, chameleon political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has hinted at an imminent removal from office and arrest of Ruto.
In a tweet that has since sparked controversy, seemingly commenting on information from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Ngunyi said a total of Sh4 billion from the Kimwarer and Arror dams saga was withdrawn from a bank in Westlands and taken to an influential “big man,” just falling short of naming the person as Ruto.
According to him, the person was bigger than Rotich and Thugge who have already been charged after being mentioned as key suspects in the Sh21 billion saga.
“According to DCI, Sh4 billion was withdrawn in cash from a Westlands bank. It was taken to the home of some influential big person. After Henry Rotich, will they arrest this big person? I have a bad feeling,” tweeted Ngunyi, who is famous for the tyranny of numbers narrative that partly helped catapult Jubilee to power in 2013. Others however wondered whether Ngunyi has forgotten that he is also in the radar of detectives for pocketing millions of NYS cash that many say could change his life for good if he isn’t pennywise but million foolish.
Upon his high profile arrest, sources say, a panicky Rotich was overheard quipping: “And where’s the big man?” in apparent inference to Ruto, who features prominently in the damning Arror and Kimwarer dossier. It is however worth noting that Rotich was in the cabinet courtesy of Uhuru and as such many say he should be seen as Uhuru baggage. At one time Ruto is said to have wanted Rotich fired but Uhuru stood his ground.
As the plot thickens, detectives are said to have turned the guns on the protracted Weston Hotel saga as the penultimate step towards Ruto’s waterloo. In this scheme of things, the Director-General, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Gilbert Kibe is under firm instructions to facilitate watertight litigation against Ruto’s Weston Hotel establishment, whose land title deed the DP used to borrow Sh1.3 billion from Kenya Commercial Bank.
It is instructive to note that the 1.77-acre piece of land on which Weston Hotel is built was irregularly acquired, a fact Ruto has not disputed.
Already, KCAA’s decision to retain opposition party lawyers James Orengo and Otiende Amollo – both ODM legislators – in the legal dispute has elicited stiff opposition from Ruto’s counsel led by Abdulahi Ahmednassir, who has argued in court that the duo are public officers who cannot prosecute the matter.
Tellingly too, Kibe is closely related to the Kenyattas, hence the high-stake game of poker subtly designed to finish off Ruto. Here, we are staring at an intriguing, carefully designed roadmap to a private prosecution against Ruto, the only practical path to take.
With that falling in place, the DP shall have to bear with protracted proceedings that will ultimately get him out of 2022’s way, owing partly to Integrity provisions of Chapter Six.