Ruto allies in government are Kenya's own Deep State

There are well within the new political dispensation tools the President has and must use to command a level of fear and respect to effectively do his job

 

DP William Ruto waves to residents of Nairage Enkare during his tour in Narok county
Image: DPPS

From long before US President Donald J Trump was sworn into office, it was believed there were people deep in government who were determined to do whatever it took to make sure the new and wholly inept President does not take the country down to ruins.

This group came to be known as the “deep state,” meaning, high-ranking officials in the federal civil service system that saw and continue to see themselves as saviors of the country from Trump madness.

Many of these individuals are found deep in the country’s national security apparatus and law enforcement agencies.

It was, therefore, no surprise that Trump has been attacking these core and vital institutions from day one and continues to trash and demean them to this day.

Trump also continues to fire civil servants in these vital institutions, including many he has appointed because he doesn’t trust them anymore or they are not loyal enough. He is doing so with abandon and believes he is some superhuman who can do and get away with things nobody else can.

Messing with the National Intelligence Service of any country is a bad, bad idea. Not even if you are the President as Trump is soon to find out.

But we also know a national security apparatus is any President’s biggest weapon.

In Kenya, we have an interesting phenomenon that needs to be examined more closely, and that is the relationship between Deputy President William Ruto and many in the National Intelligence Service and the military.

The question is, does Ruto have key people in these two vital parts of government in his pocket such that they can rightly be deemed to be our own deep state arrayed against President Uhuru Kenyatta?

 In the US, the deep state exists, if it does for the patriotic reasons to save the country from the inept President’s madness and Twitter fingers driven governance, if you can even call this governing.

In Kenya, the deep state must only exist for the sole purpose of aiding Ruto to clear the political mines ahead and help him ascend to the presidency.

One can deny the existence of a deep state in Kenya, but the facts belie this denial.

Indeed, putting two and two together, one cannot but conclude the deep state exists and leading as proof, is the swagger with which Ruto walks and does his things.

The swagger Ruto has can only be the product of some firm believe, yes, he has the proverbial balls to tout the system, if not defeat it altogether — a feat that will be the first in our country’s history.

To be sure, not one person has ever daringly challenged the government of the day and lived to tell their story. If they did, it is with broken limbs and having survived various forms of punishment and torture. Count Raila Odinga among them.

While assassinations and other forms of state brutality peaked during former President Daniel Moi’s government, it cannot be the alternative to have a clawless President disrespected left and right with impunity. That would be the definition of an impotent President with equally undesirable outcome from his presidency, or more precisely, one incapable of effectively governing the country.

There are well within the new political dispensation tools the President has and must use to command a level of fear and respect to effectively do his job as well as to implement his priorities, including now the handshake and BBI.

Those tools include the right to hire and fire and top on that list must be Ruto allies in the deep state, and replaced with Uhuru and Raila’s loyalists.

Yes, Ruto and his people will cry “they’re finishing us” but we only have one President at a time and he must utilise all the power at his disposal to do the necessary for the good of the country.

That time is nigh.

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