Why Ruto has his eyes firmly fixed on the 'deep state'
In 2012, the 'Deep State' had convinced Uhuru that his ticket with Ruto was unacceptable locally and internationally. Ruto was there.
Deep State!
This phrase has dominated the news in the last couple of days having first been mentioned by Oburu Odinga. According to Oburu, his brother ODM leader Raila Odinga was assured of winning the Presidency at the next election because he has the system or deep state in his corner courtesy of his political brother, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Deputy President William Ruto then responded claiming that his camp was being threatened with a system that would stop him from being President. This was followed by, curiously, the Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho dismissing the existence of a system. Then Raila responded saying his brother had made a personal comment and told Ruto that he is part of the system and should tell Kenyans what is it.
Is there a system or deep state in Kenya that seeks to determine who forms the government and how it is run?
The simple answer is YES!
What is a deep state? A deep state is usually defined as a secret network of especially non-elected government officials and some times, private entities operating extra-legally to influence and enact government policy.
Since independence, there have been people who have created a kind of fortress around themselves to ensure that they have a say in how the government is formed and ran. It has been said that the nerve centre of this so-called deep state is domiciled in the Office of the President and specifically the Ministry of Internal Security (currently known as the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government. The Principal Secretary (formerly known as Permanent Secretary) in this Ministry is said to be the key figure in the deep state structure. This is because they control the country's security and intelligence apparatus and are also rumoured to have an audited slush fund.
A look at history shows that it is not in doubt that Internal Security Ministers and their Permanent Secretaries in Kenya have held and exercised a lot of administrative and political power. They, and especially the PSs, have been some of the most powerful, and sometimes controversial, figures in government.
For most of them, political power has been their second nature.
But the Kenyan deep state, like in many other countries, is not only made up of quasi-politicians serving in the public service though they play a key role due to access to intelligence reports. They are surrounded by money men who finance various activities including running parallel systems that seek to keep government officials and politicians in check. The money men also use the state machinery to finance those who they want to come to power whether at the local or national level.
To understand how and why Ruto knows there is a deep state, one has to go back to December 2012.
Every Kenyan recalls the events of December 18, 2012, when Uhuru told TNA delegates that dark forces had forced him to sign a deal dropping out of the presidential race in favour of then UDF candidate Musalia Mudavadi.
The story starts on December 2, 2012, though there were activities before this such as the formation of the UDF party, which was created by some of Kibaki power men as a vehicle for their preferred candidate. One of the Kibaki’s advisors Nick Wanjohi was on record at the time as one of the architects of Mudavadi’s UDF party.
December 2 was the day Uhuru and Ruto announced that their parties were officially forming a coalition known as the Jubilee Coalition. This political marriage would become polygamous within days and end up in a divorce with the third party within less than 20 days. The third party in this union was Mudavadi who was already labelled a State House project.
On December 4, Mudavadi received visitors among them Uhuru and Ruto as well as Chirau Mwakwere and Najib Balala. They wanted to discuss how they would win the presidency against Raila and it was here that it was revealed that Uhuru would drop out for Mudavadi as the Jubilee Coalition presidential candidate. But the architects of the deal had another idea to deal with the possible rebellion; Uhuru and Mudavadi would participate in a primary where Ruto would not vote and would have his people vote for Mudavadi.
This meeting was followed by controversies that would erupt on December 18. TNA MPs and officials were not ready to hear about a secret deal that they were not part of. They argued that they would not allow intimidation or coercion from any quarters to change their position on Uhuru reminding him that he had no liberty to dish out the candidacy. On the other hand, Ruto’s URP demanded that their share in the new coalition was 50 per cent and that Uhuru’s TNA should share its 50 per cent with Mudavadi’s UDF.
TNA, UDF and URP officials had signed the addendum to extend the December 3 agreement bringing together Uhuru and Ruto to accommodate Mudavadi but were unaware of the secret deal between the two Deputy Prime Ministers. It was only on December 5, that Uhuru revealed the deal to his confidants who immediately started mobilising to fight "the deep state and their candidate" culminating in the meeting on December 18.
On December 18, Uhuru and Mudavadi were playing a “wait and see” game with the latter delaying a scheduled press conference for hours at his Kileleshwa office waiting for Uhuru to address the TNA delegates’ meeting at the Multi-Media University.
At the university, Uhuru was buying time by giving a long history of his political milestones leading to his alliance with then Eldoret North MP William Ruto. At the time, his aides were watching Mudavadi’s press conference and constantly sending signals to the podium. As Mudavadi started giving his side of the story, Uhuru told the TNA delegates that dark forces had made him sign a deal that would see him drop out of the race.
“You saw us showcase our unity at the Afraha in Nakuru but thereafter, a devil who does not know where we started came saying that if we continued in our quest, Kenya would not get foreign aid; we would not sell our tea abroad and that we would cause war in Kenya since Kenyans are not ready for another Kikuyu presidency. So I decided that instead of involving Ruto in it, I would make the decision myself due to my love for the country and peace,” Uhuru stated but said he was going with the decision of the delegates that he must be on the ballot.
The question many ask is who exactly had pushed Uhuru to drop out of the race. In his book Soaring above the Storms of Passion, Mudavadi says that Uhuru and Ruto cited the ICC cases that they were facing as the motivation for their decision.
However, those around Uhuru and Ruto will tell you that the two had been shown 'intelligence' reports that their ticket was unpopular both locally and internationally. The claim was that many Kenyans were not ready to support them for fear of how the international community would react to crimes against humanity suspects leading the country. The reports had been prepared by the then deep state made up of key power and money men in the Kibaki era. They even used some members of the Kenyatta family to convince Uhuru that his candidature was risky to the country.
And this is how and why Ruto is aware that there exists a system that would want to control who forms the next government.
And by virtue of him being Deputy President, Ruto is very much aware of the plans in place through his own loyalists in the intelligence apparatus. Therefore, when he says there is a plan to stop his presidential bid, Ruto is not talking from a vacuum but echoing something that he is aware of.