Ruto and Mudavadi rivalry erupts

By Oscar Obonyo

The deep-seated rivalry between Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi and Eldoret North MP William Ruto has finally come out.

The two have engaged in behind-the-scenes supremacy battles in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). While focus has been on the differences between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Ruto, the vicious war involves the two deputy party leaders.

Last weekend, Ruto criticised Mudavadi’s leadership style in his western Kenya backyard. "Mudavadi is mad if he says he cannot run for president because the Luhya are not united. He is supposed to unite them," Ruto told a rally at Webuye.

The sentiments elicited sharp reactions from politicians with Mudavadi asking Ruto to avoid personalising issues during "his premature campaigns".

Community unity

Mudavadi’s private secretary and Director of Public Communication in the DPM’s Office Kibisu Kabatesi reacted thus: "It is an insult to tell a community that welcomes you their leaders are ‘mad’ for not uniting it to fight other communities.

If there is any failure on the part of DPM, it is that he abhors the business of uniting one community against another." Mr Kabatesi maintains the Luhya are united and do not require "a hysterical neighbour to unite them". The latest public spat between Mudavadi and Ruto exposes the bitter rivalry between them previously camouflaged as a Raila-Ruto battle. ODM MPs interviewed by The Standard On Sunday say the main source of a rift between Raila and Ruto is Mudavadi.

Says Nominated MP Musa Sirma: "The fight in ODM has never been between Raila and Ruto, but about the quest for the number two slot."

The self-styled Rift Valley governor says there would be no storm in the party had Raila appointed Ruto his deputy party leader.

The endless blame game waged on the PM for alleged persecution of the Kalenjin community, including the Mau Forest evictions, unfair Cabinet slots allocation to Rift Valley, handling of post-election violence victims, and claims he influenced the listing of the Ocampo Six are signals of Ruto’s protest.

The power struggle between Mudavadi and Ruto picked up in earnest in September 2008. Ruto launched his quest for the number two slot in the Orange party in Mudavadi’s backyard during the DPM’s homecoming party.

"Si mnajua hii kiti ya prime minister ilikuwa yangu? Lakini vile mambo yalikamatana nika relax na Agwambo akachukua. Halafu hapo katikati ikatokea ingine, nikaachia ndugu yangu Mudavadi. Si kwa hivyo yangu inakuja? (You are aware the PM slot was reserved for me, but Raila settled for it owing to the electoral fiasco. In between, another position was created and I gave it up for my brother Mudavadi. Doesn’t if follow that mine is next?)," he posed.

Presidential nomination

Concurring with the suspended Higher Education minister’s assertion, Sirma says such a demand was not going to be executed at the expense of Mudavadi. He says it was not foreseeable for the PM to overturn his decision to have Mudavadi as his principal deputy considering that the DPM rightly earned his place at Kasarani during the ODM presidential nomination in 2007 by emerging second ahead of Ruto, Co-operatives minister Joe Nyagah and Tourism Minister Najib Balala.

"Nonetheless we pushed, as Rift Valley politicians, to secure the number two slot for Ruto. The PM agreed to an amendment in the party constitution for the creation of two slots," recalls Sirma.

But this was a short-lived solution and either the PM did not comprehend Ruto’s coded message to him or he had made up his mind to stick with Mudavadi. Sirma and ODM officials from Western Province feel the belated realisation that the PM and Mudavadi were politically inseparable persuaded Ruto and his allies to plot their exit.

"The ODM plane is on the runaway ready to take off with the PM as pilot and DPM as co-pilot. The deal was sealed way back and anybody on board or wishing to get on board is alive to this reality," says governance consultant Polycarp Onyango.

With the die cast, Mudavadi and Ruto have engaged in underground battles, which only exploded last week. It is instructive to note Ruto launched his stinger in Western, while Mudavadi responded to the attack in Elgeyo-Marakwet, Rift Valley.

It seems the game plan is to undermine each other in their own political home turfs. With Raila’s relationship with most Kalenjin MPs’ frosty, Mudavadi has emerged as the party’s face in the region. Last weekend, he spearheaded an extensive tour of Elgeyo-Marakwet County.

On the other hand, Ruto has engaged the help of Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa in his forays in Western. The first term MP is being touted by Ruto allies as the alternative presidential flag bearer of the populous Luhya community. In the meantime, the battle rages on and it is unlikely that the PM can accommodate both politicians in the Orange party.