In Kenya, there is a story writing itself in the pages of history. Two brothers had united to mend what had been the country’s longest tribal feud. The first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, was once a hustler among the whites who ruled the colonial Kenya. Kenyatta senior was jailed, harassed and put down by the white man.
During Kenyatta’s jailing and harassment, his wife, Ngina Kenyatta, was struggling to make ends meet. Her children felt the heat of being the children of a freedom fighter. The children maybe even loathed the fact their father was rotting in jail for his country. It would not be absurd if Ngina Kenyatta also felt the heat and wished her husband was anything else but a freedom.
The family however stood by Kenyatta until he became the first President of Kenya. The little boy who slept hungry as his father wasted his years in jail is Kenya’s President today. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta is the son of the white-man era hustler and political convict. Uhuru Kenyatta suffered the consequences of colonization just like every other child in Kenya.
As this was happening, another boy was to be born a few years after independence. The new boy did not know, feel nor experience the effects of the colonial era. His family was not targeted by the white man nor was it placed under surveillance. It is even possible that his father enjoyed a warm bed every night during the colonial era when Jomo Kenyatta slept on the cold floor of Kapenguria. This new boy is none other but the country’s deputy president, William Samoei Ruto.
The Dynasty
Today, William Ruto calls his boss names. He says Uhuru Kenyatta is a dynasty head. The same Uhuru Kenyatta who slept hungry on a tender age. The same Uhuru Kenyatta who’s father went to prison for his country. William Ruto classified himself as a hustler when everyone knows he is a billionaire. Kenya’s hustlers hustled in prisons and in the forests fighting for independence. They did not own helicopters and hotels.
Listening to William Ruto’s team throw insults to the President, one would think Uhuru Kenyatta was born into milk and honey. As much as his father became President, it will be respectful to recognize the hardships his family went through for that to happen. If William Ruto is a hustler according to his narratives, then he should recognize that Uhuru Kenyatta is a son of a true legendary hustler.
Tribal Feud
When Jomo Kenyatta died, his second in command, Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, took charge. While Kenyatta was of the Kikuyu tribe, Moi was a Kalenjin. The new president faced rejection from the Kikuyu tycoons who felt that a Kikuyu deserved to be president. They argued that a Kikuyu deserved the presidency since the ‘Maumau freedom fighters’ was mainly a Kikuyu movement. The ‘Maumau fighters’ led a successful rebellion against the whites as they fought for Kenya’s independence.
The Kikuyu tycoons moved against their first president’s wishes who had wanted Moi to succeed him. President Moi was able to squash his oppose-rs including a near successful Coup. The situation later escalated to a long standing tribal feud between the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu. The feud saw its highest peak in the 2007/08 post election violence that led to the deaths and displacement of thousands of Kenyans.
The tribal clashes mostly affected the Kikuyu people who had bought land deep in the Kalenjin territory especially around the towns of Eldoret and Nakuru.
This long standing feud came to a halt when Uhuru Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, joined hands with William Ruto, a Kalenjin in the 2013 presidential elections. The duo won the elections by a landslide. The two leaders are now in logger heads owing to William Ruto’s ambitious moves. Uhuru Kenyatta had agreed to support his number two in the 2022 presidential bid. His Deputy President however went on a destructive rampage interfering with the 2017 elections and further engaging in pre-mature campaigns.
The president warned his deputy a few times but the deputy had decided to run solo. With time, the President had to let go of their partnership as his deputy pressured him to do so.
Confusion
Based on questions, the confusion starts and ends with the Deputy President. What could have happened if he had waited until the campaigns kicked off? Why did he defy his President and ally, Uhuru Kenyatta?
What right does he have, to call the son of a real hustler, a dynasty head? Was Uhuru Kenyatta a dynasty material when he slept hungry as his father slept on a cold Kapenguria floor? Can the hustler wanna-be tell Kenyans why he chose campaigns over delivering his promise to the people who voted for him?
Does the deputy see the dangers of another Kalenjin/Kikuyu fall out? Does he want another 2007/08 repeat?
Hope
Kenyans hope that Gideon Moi, son to the late ex-President Moi, would take his place if things went south. If another tribal feud would erupt, Gideon Moi is the person who settle the dust. He is the only person who could tell Ruto off in the Kalenjin lines. Gideon Moi is to the Kalenjin what Uhuru Kenyatta is to the Kikuyu.
