Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (left), President William Ruto and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi at the Kenya Kwanza PG meeting at State House on June 18, 2024. PHOTO | COURTESY
When he was vice president, President William Ruto’s relationship with President Uhuru Kenyatta in their last term (2018-2022) disintegrated badly. The main issue was Mr Kenyatta’s preference for erstwhile rival, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, as his successor in the 2022 election.
In the end, Mr Ruto prevailed and became president. Now he has a “Ruto situation” with his Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a messy intra-ruling Kenya Kwanza party knife fight. The main reason for the animus seems to be the calculations around President Ruto’s re-election in 2027. This time, though, the break has come in the first, not second, term.
