Out and about in Kapsowar, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, completely forgetting that he has not been in private practice since 1985, styled himself a legal eagle, advising the good people of the North rift, that he has been jet-setting around Africa trying to cobble together a coalition for the express purpose of scuttling the issuance of summons from the ICC against, among others, the favourite son of the North Rift, Kipchirchir William Samoei arap Ruto (whose mother still cannot understand the furore surrounding his indictment). Present at the same meeting was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta, who seemed amused that the VP was going out of his way to reassure the residents of the North Rift as to his sincerity, especially when he claimed that he was a praying Christian and that he has been praying for Hon. Ruto in this, his hour of need.
When the Prime Minister embarked on his necessary but ill-advised rehabilitation programme for the Mau Forest Complex, it opened a rift that has never healed between him and his supporters from the North Rift. Even then, it was quite clear that the majority of beneficiaries of the irregular allocations of land in the Mau belonged to communities residing in the North Rift. Indeed, days after Henry Kosgei, the ODM Chairman, was charged with abuse of office in an anti-corruption court in Nairobi, it emerged that he was also a major beneficiary of these allocations, and that now his land was being threatened with repossession. So, the PM's desire to repossess land from those who irregularly acquired properties theirs in the Mau was always going to be seen as a plot to kick the Kalenjin while they were down. It is this that must have informed the VP's and the Eldoret North MP's desire to cobble together a winning alliance against the PM. In their desire not to be seen as merely opportunistic, they have managed to rope in the DPM, hence the unimaginative media label of KKK. However, it is emerging that the Ruto-Uhuru pair do not trust, nor believe in, the VP. He has an unenviable position: when he was a member of the original ODM, he had committed himself to accepting the results of primaries held by the Movement. However, when it became apparent that Raila Odinga would wipe the floor with him despite the alleged support of elements from PNU, he ditched his friends, maneuvered to have the Party endorse him, ensured that Odinga and his acolytes would in turn form another ODM, and campaigned for himself for the presidency, coming in a distant third. He leveraged the support he had garnered in Ukambani and eastern Province to land himself the VP's post even when the country was going up in flames.
Now he seeks to persuade Ruto and Uhuru that he is a friend who can be trusted when his past is anything but trustworthy. He is not done yet, however. He has embarked on a campaign to paint himself as the anti-Odinga, taking stances that are nuanced enough to create the impression that he understands the masses, and that the PM is well past his prime when it comes to the occupancy of State House. Where the PM is spearheading the rehabilitation of the Mau, a project he endorsed when it suited him, he has now decided that it is in his interests to take a tangentially different route by offering succour to the 'IDPs' affected by the evictions from the Mau. Where the PM has endorsed the ICC process regarding the suspects of the ICC, he has declared that 'government' is working on a diplomatic assault on the Rome Statute and that Isaac Ruto's Motion in the National Assembly to withdraw from the Rome Statute and repeal the International Crimes Act is a 'government project'. This latter adventure has been denied by members of the ODM who declare unequivocally that the Cabinet has not endorsed the machinations that the VP is engaged in at present.
Given the ethnic arithmetics that goes into our general elections, especially our presidential elections, the VP knows he must secure the total support of the people of Ukambani, or all is lost. During last year's Referendum campaigns, he let it be known that while he thought that much of the Proposed Constitution was good, he was uncomfortable with some of its Articles and that he would work very hard to address the fears of the Christian clergy opposed to the Draft as well as those of the peoples of the North Rift regarding the provisions on land. Because of his constant vacillation, he was nick-named a 'watermelon' by some wag and the tag has simply refused to go away. However, because of his watermelon tag, he was unable to declare that he had rallied the people of Ukambani behind him 100%, unlike Ruto who was seen as the leader of the Kalenjin and Uhuru Kenyatta who is seen as a leader of the Kikuyu. The two now doubt that Kalonzo can deliver the votes in 2012 and indeed, when Hon. Ruto declared that the Presidency should go to someone 'under fifty' it was seen as a subtle message to Kalonzo that he should be wary of his tricks.
In Miguel de Cervantes' The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, the hero of the story embarks on a campaign to slay dragons in order to win the hand of a fair maiden. In his journeys, it is apparent to the reader that the hero is slowly losing his mind, portraying him 'titling at windmills' in his hopeless quest. If the VP is not careful, he will be seen as the indefatigable and hapless Don Quixote and the peoples of Kenya will be well advised to ignore his anti-Raila adventures and, instead, look to the Uhuru-Ruto alliance to offer a credible alternative.
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