My advice to Ruto as Jubilee prepares to take over power

By Donald B Kipkorir

“And you shall know the truth,

And the truth shall set you free.”

John 8:32

First things first. Congratulations on your electoral victory in the Jubilee Coalition. What is undeniable is that Jubilee won majority votes in the presidential election.

As to whether your resounding victory met the constitutional threshhold, we leave that to the Supreme Court. What is also incontrovertible is the fact that you brought in more votes than any other candidate. Your votes of over 2,000,000 in Rift Valley are more than what your presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta garnered in his strongholds.

Secondly, I want to confess that I voted for Raila Amolo Odinga in the CORD. I did so for, among other things, my personal friendship of so many years with Kalonzo Musyoka, his running mate. Though, we have known each other since 1992 when I was a student at Kenya School of Law and we are from same town, you didn’t call me to support you. But as the numero uno leader of my people, I supported all candidates under URP in the Kalenjin nation.

In Elgeyo Marakwet where I come from, URP took all seats. Personally, I raised over Sh4 million for senator-elect Kipchumba Murkomen for his campaigns. Nikusema na kutenda. Should the Supreme Court confirm your victory, I want to proffer free advice. Am grateful that you are coming to office the same time as Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church and President Xi Jinping of atheist China. Both have taken the reins of power and each will be in charge of over 1.2 billion people. It is also the year Kenya is turning 50. Yahweh, whom you and I worship, decreed the 50th year is a jubilee year with its attendant promises of joy, celebration, harvest and reconciliation.

In coming to power under Jubilee Coalition, you have been involved in a generational revolution. Leadership has moved to the generation that was born or cut its teeth after independence. But history has showed that in every revolution, most or all its leaders become casualties. Jacques Mallet du Pan [1749-1800], a French journalist, who lived through the 1789 French Revolution said that la révolution dévore ses enfants and has remained through since. Just watch your back that you are not the casualty of this revolution.

Make haste to resolve your pending charges at the International Criminal Court. In all my prior articles, on this page and when I was writing in the Sunday Nation, I have always maintained that the charges against you will not stand.

International jurisprudence as developed since the Nuremburg Tribunal on international crimes has placed liability on those with most responsibility and the burden to prove the case beyond any reasonable doubt never shifts from the Prosecutor. But as long as these charges are pending, it will be our national albatross and we will be a pariah state. Use all resources at your disposal to bring the charges to an end.

The Jubilee manifesto makes promises on physical infrastructure, food security, social justice, education, health et al for all. In Kenya, we are used to lofty promises for purposes of getting elected. Once in office, the glossy manifestos are left to gather dust till the next electoral cycle. Be remembered as the one who actualised his manifesto. You are known for tenacity and energy. You may not achieve all, but at least, get most. Let every part of Kenya at long last be invited to eat from and on the same table. No one should eat crumbs, for as that Canaanite woman told Jesus, “ … the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” Matthew 15:27.

Kenya is a tribal amalgamation and that is the truth. Jubilee is basically a coalition of our Kalenjin nation and the Kikuyu. If there is one achievement of your coalition, it is that we didn’t have any politically instigated violence for the first time in Rift Valley since 1992. This doesn’t mean that we have resolved historical disputes in our region.

The Constitution mandates your government to resolve all historical injustices. We cannot move on as a country if we have grievances simmering in our closets. Kalenjin and Kikuyu have land issues. Kikuyu and Luo have political grudges. Turkana, Samburu and Pokot have cattle rustling. Pokomo and Orma have land disputes. South Africa moved on after an honest Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Rwanda has moved on from its genocidal tragedy mainly because of its gacaca traditional justice system. TRC and gacaca were underpinned in restorative, reconciliatory and compensatory and not punitive justice. Do it for Kenya.

On foreign policy, look to East, but don’t turn away from the West. I hear some people saying that we can survive without the West. I want to be shown only one country that has succeeded in doing that. Eritrea, Sudan-Khartoum and North Korea dumped the West and they are the only countries whose people eat grass! Zimbabwe pretended it could do without the West yet it dumped its useless currency for the mighty United States Dollar! We cannot survive without Washington, London and Berlin and let no one lie to you.

I know that you cannot have peace now owing to haranguing by those who want to join your government. It is your constitutional prerogative to appoint your Cabinet, members of the diplomatic corps and chief executives and board members of State corporations and also Judges of the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. You are free to appoint your friends who qualify, but never appoint sycophants. Many are singing praises to you now but they don’t mean it. You need someone who will have the courage to tell you when you are naked. And the fortitude to remind you of your human frailties should you think you are god!

I wish you all the best in your collaborative presidency with Uhuru. Make sure President-elect Uhuru delegates you in writing 50 per cent of presidential powers pursuant Articles 135 and 147 (2) of the Constitution. If not, you will end up without even a carpet or mkate nusu.

In this year of jubilee, make us shout with joy as Ronald Reagan [1911-2004], US 40th President said, “Never has there been a more exciting time to be alive, a time of rousing wonder and heroic achievement…” Let this be our sputnik moment. And know that amwaung iman, amu ii choruenyu.

The writer is an Advocate of the High Court.