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Deputy President William Ruto has over the past week been pleading with President Uhuru Kenyatta to spare him from more attacks, giving credence to reports that he is feeling the heat of his boss’ onslaught. 

The situation worsened on Tuesday when the President’s mother, Mama Ngina, joined the fray, asking the Mt Kenya populace to vote for ODM leader Raila Odinga. 

“Let us love each other; the country belongs to us and we should continue with the agenda of the nation with focus. Your President cannot misdirect you. He had no issues, but what do you do when your deputy brings up some issues? Please follow him (Uhuru),” she told mourners at Kabangi Village in Gatundu South, during the burial of Nelly Wanjiku, her cousin. 

Apprehensive of the President’s aggressive onslaught against him and the imminent resurgence of Jubilee Party in Mt Kenya region, a forlorn-looking Ruto has on more than three occasions pleaded with his boss to spare him the sword.

The President, who for long had fallen out with his deputy, closed ranks with his arch-rival Raila Odinga before he began a campaign to tame Ruto through actions. Now the second in command seems to be bearing  the consequences. Before their fall out in Jubilee, an abrasive Ruto and his allies had been dismissive of Uhuru as a lame-duck president who would have zero impact on succession politics.

But in a departure from the past, Ruto apparently is using every available platform, both locally and internationally, to narrate his tribulations and how Uhuru’s assault on him could shatter his ambitions.

“I am pleading with you people, and I am doing it with a lot of humility. Please tell my brother Uhuru Kenyatta to please not wound William Ruto because he stood with him when those criminals did not want to stand with him. Why is Uhuru scheming against me and yet I helped him until he became president? Please tell him not to lift the same sword that I used while helping him to get to leadership, and use it to slash me. Please tell him not to cut William Ruto.  Even if he does not want to help me, he should let me deal with ‘mtu wa kitendewili’ (Raila) because, if I was dealing with the ‘kitendawili’ person alone, I would have defeated him a long time ago,” he  pleaded with Uhuru recently.

Ruto has accused his boss of “torture”, crying foul that Uhuru has denied him much-needed political support in favour of Raila. Ruto claims that Uhuru stripped him of the position of principal assistant and kicked his allies out of Government and Parliament. Further, he agonises over being kicked out of Jubilee and being branded a thief, with some of his allies arraigned in court over criminal offences.

Sources say the President’s recent meeting at Sagana State Lodge where he enumerated to residents of Mt Kenya the projects his government has undertaken, has started sinking in people’s minds.

Other than correcting the perception that Ruto had made on voters in the region about the government, revival of Jubilee is also giving the DP and his allies sleepless nights. “It is no longer a walk in the park as the DP has been forced to go back to the drawing board regarding his approach to Mt Kenya issues,” says Prof Macharia Munene, a political analyst.

The analyst says that since the fall out with his boss, Ruto has found himself cut off completely from government, as well as  benefits such as intelligence reports and other briefings essential for campaigns.

Prof Munene also says Ruto is scared of whatever information the President could be in possession of about him and the damage it could cause to his campaigns.

“He is scared because he doesn’t know the dossier that the President could unleash on him. He even doesn’t know how the President intends to deal with him when he embarks on aggressive campaigns,” explains Prof Munene.

During his heyday when he called the shots in Jubilee Party, critics claim he was the de-facto president. Ruto had such massive influence that even ministers and elected leaders would stream to his Karen residence for favours. That is no more.

His allies, including Cabinet Secretaries and lawmakers who held leadership positions in Parliament, were kicked out, thereby having their gross salary reduced by more than Sh300,000. 

Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu says the DP is clutching at straws as he pleads with Uhuru for mercy, having underestimated his political strength. Wambugu says that after the March 9, 2018 Handshake, Ruto began a parallel system by defying his boss, thinking he would have no influence on 2022 succession politics.

According to Wambugu, when Uhuru realised his deputy was keen on sabotaging his efforts, he quietly started strategising on how to deal with him. Meanwhile, Ruto remained blinded by his ambitions and influence, particularly in government and with the masses.

By that time, Wambugu says, Mt Kenya region appeared locked in his favour, and Ruto never imagined Uhuru would be a factor in his presidential bid. “Ruto has now panicked after realising how much influence Uhuru has. He wanted Uhuru to retire. When it became apparent he was determined to shape his succession, they started insulting him, thinking the President would avoid being muddied. But Uhuru seems not to care. The President is set to move to the ground to finish Ruto and his allies,” Wambugu says.

But Soy MP Caleb Kositany, who was ousted as Jubilee deputy secretary general, says since the March 9, 2018 Handshake, Ruto’s life has been “hell”, adding that he and his allies have been persecuted in a deliberate and politically motivated move.

“It’s not only Ruto who has suffered, but also Kenyans because, as a result of the President’s blindness, we lost focus on the Big Four Agenda. Why all this hatred for the deputy? Why use State machinery to fight him and his supporters? Ruto has been humiliated and disrespected. He was locked out of the Mombasa House, stripped of his powers and his allies kicked out of jobs,” says the Uasin Gishu governor aspirant.

But Jubilee deputy secretary Joshua Kutuny says Ruto made his bed and should now lie on it: “The tribulations he has gone through are his own creation. He should not blame Uhuru. If he has to cry foul, it is because of his own mistakes since he chose to fight the appointing authority. He should be ready for more consequences.”

Apart from working with Raila, who he relied on to push government agenda in Parliament, and saying his deputy has “unbridled and uncontrollable” ambitions that can devastate the country, Uhuru has gone on to fight Ruto.

Dr Richard Bosire, a political science lecturer at the University of Nairobi, says by alleging that Uhuru tortured him, Ruto was playing with the minds of Kenyans — concealing the truth behind their acrimonious fall out with the hope of gaining sympathy.

“He continued to defy the President in public, and perhaps even in private, as he vilified Uhuru and his personality. Ruto was determined to sabotage Uhuru in pursuit of his personal and political ambitions,” Bosire says.

He adds that Ruto’s actions were outright defiance, even at the expense of the country’s stability for, without the Handshake, the country could have gone to the dogs. 

“Uhuru told him to stop early campaigns but he refused. How then did he expect Uhuru to support him?”, Bosire asks.

But Kositany differs, saying: “How has  the DP disrespected the President? Someone who has stood with you in four elections? Respect is earned. The DP realised his respect was not being reciprocated. It was not written anywhere that Ruto had to support the Handshake”.