Why Ruto’s remarks point to a most powerful deputy president ever

Posted Tuesday, April 9, 2013 | By MACHARIA GAITHO

IN SUMMARY

• Mr Ruto is not just a mere appointee serving at the pleasure and mercy of the president. The Constitution makes him an elected leader in his own right on a joint ticket with the President. He cannot be fired

The long and largely unscripted speech Deputy President William Ruto gave at Kasarani stadium before inviting newly-inaugurated President Uhuru Kenyatta to address the gathering was significant for more than just the content.

Usually at such functions, the vice president would play a largely a ceremonial role limited to inviting the president to speak.

But in his new role as Deputy President, Mr Ruto is not just a mere appointee serving at the pleasure and mercy of the president. The Constitution makes him an elected leader in his own right on a joint ticket with the President. He cannot be fired.

Mr Ruto also occupies a particularly powerful role in the new government because he does not come aboard as a hand-picked running-mate; but as a leader of his own party that commands a 50 per cent share of the Jubilee Coalition government.

President Kenyatta’s The National Alliance (TNA) and Deputy President Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP) are therefore equal partners in the governing coalition. This gives the latter much more clout than any predecessors at number two, reinforced by the fact that the vote basket commanded by the Deputy President was key to delivering Jubilee victory.

Like the President’s speech, Mr Ruto’s address touched on the same issues of peace and national unity, touched on the need for inclusive government and extended a nod to the opposition.

But it went even further revealing why he and Mr Kenyatta initially decided to work together, that their alliance was founded not on the quest for the presidency, but on the search for peace in areas traditionally hit by ethnic violence every election period.

The Deputy President did not have to amplify that he and the new President are bound together by the International Criminal Court indictments over the 2007-2008 post-election violence. The irony is that the ICC targeted the two as presumed commanders on opposite sides of the Kalenjin and Kikuyu forces that have often gone for each other in the Rift Valley.

Mr Ruto on Tuesday promised a peace dividend in the Rift Valley out of the election outcome, vowing that never again would the region be split asunder by ethnic violence.

He was however silent on whether the Jubilee government would launch a programme to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of IDPs kicked out of the Rift Valley are allowed to go back to their homes and farms.

President Kenyatta also spoke on peace and reconciliation but also delivered very strong message around the impending trials at The Hague. He was clearly addressing the United States, Britain and European countries that have been putting pressure over the ICC trials with the now famous “choices have consequences” threats from former US State Department Africa head Johnny Carson.

At a time when signals have been sent that Kenya might react to pressure by cutting links with the West, President Kenyatta affirmed that Kenya will remain a committed member of the international community and will fulfil its obligations.

But that promise ended with a caveat: “So long as these are founded on the well-established principles of mutual respect and reciprocity... no one country or group of countries should have control or monopoly on international institutions or the interpretation of international treaties.”

He also pointed out that Kenya has always been committed to international treaties; before going on to caution, without specifically mentioning any country or the ICC, those that may try to misuse such protocol to apply political pressure. He took a jab at the West’s hypocrisy by pressuring Kenya on the ICC while rejecting the jurisdiction of the international justice system for their own citizens.

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto have all along stated that they will continue to cooperate with the ICC, but that rider was as strong a signal as any they are keeping their options open.