Getting out of hand

This thing is getting out of hand. If Kenya's fearless political reporters are to be believed, Oburu Odinga has decided to wade into the Who-Fixed-Ruto? saga with an offer to testify on behalf of the Deputy President to show that indeed, he was fixed and that the fixing was done by current coalition partners. 

When Moses Kuria claimed that he had been involved, together with Martha Karua, Anyang' Nyong'o and Raila Odinga, to fix William Ruto, and that he was willing to testify to that in any court, few paid him any mind even with the promise of more Moses Kuria drama. Martha Karua threatened to sue him unless he withdrew his statements. He, in typical fashion, doubled down even more loudly, explaining that in the aftermath of the 2007 general election, PNU and ODM were busily shopping each others' members to the ICC, that it was all part of the post-Grand Coalition maneuvering. What he cannot explain is how he managed to get into bed with ODM-ists so that together they could shop William Ruto to the ICC when ODM was busily, if he is to be believed, shopping Uhuru Kenyatta to the same ICC.

Now with the entrance of Oburu Odinga, things are about to get really interesting. The 2007 general election and the violence it visited on Kenya is sufficiently ancient news that key events are subject to the revisionism of politicians with axes to grind. Between the general election and the formation of the Grand Coalition, Mr Ruto and Mr Odinga were bosom buddies, in each others' corners, so much so that everyone believed that Mr Ruto was to get the ODM Deputy Premiership on offer. The rift, no pun intended, between the Prime Minister and his canniest Rift Valley operator began when the PM chose Musalia Mudavadi instead.

What must have informed Raila when he overlooked Mr Ruto for the milquetoast Musalia must have been Mr Ruto's KANU diehard credentials, especially when the Ghai Draft was published when he served in Baba Moi's government, and when he stood foursquare behind Uhuru Kenyatta's failed first stab at the presidency.

If Mr Ruto had not been so hellbent in sabotaging the PM's efforts in 2008 and 2009, either Martha Karua or Mutula Kilonzo would have overseen the establishment of a local mechanism for the post-election violence cases and perhaps, just perhaps, Mr Ruto would be as free as Mr Kenyatta from the clutches of the ICC. In the event, Mr Ruto allied himself with Mr Kenyatta, kicked the local-mechanism gambit in its teeth, celebrated the virtues of the ICC in rally after rally, and watched the Waki List being handed over to the ICC Prosecutor. Having believed that it was the principals who would suffer the consequences of the move, he was shaken to his core when it turned out that Mr Justice Waki's principal suspects were him and Mr Kenyatta.

Their strategy of using the ICC to win the 2013 elections paid off. Their strategy of painting the ICC and the ICC Prosecutor into a corner has had mixed results. Of the Ocampo Six, it is only Mr Ruto and Joshua Sang who are on trial. A Rule change that Kenya did not fear has come back to bite him in the butt too. Mr Ruto wants to win the political battle now, but why he has allowed Mr Kuria to lead the troops is a mystery we will never solve because Mr Kuria, by his own admission, is not exactly Mr Ruto's greatest fan. Mr Oburu promises to make this fact as plain as possible with his offer to testify as to how PNU fixed Mr Ruto.

This thing is getting out of hand.