MY STAND: Deputy President William Ruto address the nation during the Madaraka Day celebrations at Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi.
Someone tell William Ruto, the new generation leader of the Kalenjin, he should learn to play second fiddle or he will pay the prize for trying to outshine the master.
Someone tell William Ruto to live by Robert Greene's first law of power. This is how good old Daniel arap Moi survived around Jomo Kenyatta for about a decade as his Vice President, without inviting the wrath of the Kiambu Mafia.
Not that Jomo's Kitchen Cabinet, the Kiambu Mafia, did not try to eject the VP from the Rift Valley. They did, several times over, even through constitutional means to influence the Kenyatta succession. But the foxy Moi always engaged his survival instinct. The retired President played second fiddle to perfection. Moi always turned the other cheek whenever Kenyatta's Foreign Affairs minister Munyua Waiyaki or other power insiders of the 1960s and 1970s like Njoroge Mungai or the late Kihika Kimani bullied him.
Moi knew Old Jomo was the Sun. Moi was always the star that did not rival the radiance of the boss. Moi always sounded out Kenyatta before going public on any issue. Moi did not take the initiative - he left it to Old Jomo.
Yet even with precedent, Deputy President Ruto is trying to run ahead of President Uhuru. In May last year, Ruto told us there would be no politicians in the Cabinet, except himself and the President. When the President named Charity Ngilu, Najib Balala, and Kazungu Kambi - all cantankerous politicians and partisans - to the Cabinet, Ruto did not spin the turn.
Last month, Ruto promised the government will not pay out the Sh1.4 billion to the architects of the Anglo Leasing scam. But the initiative backfired. The money was paid out on the strength of an email from a junior officer at State House. Ruto is yet to explain why the payment was made behind his back in a government in which he claims a 50 per cent stake. He should account for the pilferage - sharing blame on a 50-50 ratio.
Last Saturday, the DP rejected national dialogue with other Kenyans, calling them "our adversaries". A day later, the President welcomed talks with the people he called "our friends". One false step too many, the DP is still outpacing the master.
Learning to be second-rated is not the first rule of power by chance. It is about knowing one's place in the universe of power - the omnibus of intrigues. The stars have their own radiance, but they do not compete with the sun. They do not rival the sun's brilliance. They disguise their shine to magnify the master's brilliance.
Balthasar Gracian (1601-1658) is candid on this: "Avoid outshining the master. All superiority is odious, but the superiority of a subject over his prince is not only stupid, it is fatal. This is a lesson that the stars in the sky teach us - they can be related to the sun, and just as brilliant, but they never appear in her company."
Balthasar Gracian (1601-1658) is candid on this: "Avoid outshining the master. All superiority is odious, but the superiority of a subject over his prince is not only stupid, it is fatal. This is a lesson that the stars in the sky teach us - they can be related to the sun, and just as brilliant, but they never appear in her company."
Ruto and Uhuru share power, through their Jubilee alliance, but one is a senior and the other is a junior member of the coalition. The two have a shared Kanu heritage as children of the status quo, but one is the master, the financier, the queen bee, and the custodian of the honeycomb.
Perching on the second deck of state power, Ruto should not imagine he is so close yet he is so far. If he falls from the height, it would be because of hubris, poor judgement, wrong timing, and his fixation with ''them in the opposition" and "us in power".
Winning an election, through this coalition of ethnic interests, is an event. Leading a multi-tribal country is a process - the real test of leadership.
The Kalenjin and the Kikuyu under Ruto and Uhuru coalesced to defend their sons against indictment at The Hague for crimes against humanity. But now the two are being called upon to lead the entire country of about 42 tribes.
Yet Ruto is still celebrating the win, 14 months after the disputed event. He is yet to learn the magnanimity of statesmanship. Instead of acting the leader, he is playing the quintessential activist. He is isolating his 'adversaries' and their ethnic blocks. Ruto is yet to recover from the ecstasy of winning. He is given to grandstanding and hubris.
Yet Ruto has never, for a minute, considered the context of the winning: the connivance of an embedded electoral commission, a security agency serving vested interests, and a Supreme Court that refused to wade through the tome of evidence, citing a technicality and limitations of time.
At least five top officers of the electoral commission are in court, facing criminal charges, related to alleged mistakes of omission or commission. The strategic incompetence of the electoral commission is a matter of public debate. But Ruto is yet to place this in the context of the win.
Ruto is still prone to tantrums about 'our adversaries' who must be kept out of the carcass-zone. The kill is too small to allow equitable sharing. He is keeping others away from the table, where he is claiming 50 per cent of the spoils.
The spoils are not an end. For Ruto everyone else should wait for another election to talk about national challenges. The man is always preaching unity, while promoting exclusion. This man Ruto - a self-declared hustler - is not a model VP. Apart from the change of the official title of his office, he remains the second turtle.
The man should learn that the Deputy President is not a co-President. Even though their Jubilee coalition gives him control of half the government, at least on paper, it is easier said than done.
Perhaps Ruto lacks strategic advice. Perhaps he does not take advice at all, or he is not tempering his ambition with foresight, which is why he is hellbent on outshining the master.
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