WHY WILLIAM RUTO LEFT ODM

MUSALIA MUDAVADI’S BOOK: SOARING ABOVE THE STORMS OF PASSION

In December 2009, Ocampo unsealed the famous envelope. It was dynamite. Three people had been named on either side of PNU/ODM divide. On the ODM side was Cabinet Ministers Henry Kosgei, William Ruto as well as a radio journalist Joshua Sang. On the PNU side was Commissioner of police, Major Hussein Ali, Head of the public Service Francis Muthaura and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta. all the three from ODM belonged to the Kalejin community.

Accusatory fingers were surprisingly pointed at Prime Minister Raila Odinga who was now being accused of taking these people to foreign courts as a ploy to block them in out of the Presidential elections two years away. To be fair to Raila, some of the people accusing him had been the loudest in the idea of forming a local tribunal. Now here they were in all manners pointing fingers and crying wolf. Ruto had indicated earlier on that he was not happy with his Cabinet position.

He wanted to be Deputy Prime Minister, he also wanted to be Deputy Party Leader a position i held. We resolved the Deputy Party leader easily when i agreed that it could be split into two so that he could come on board as my Co Deputy Party Leader. If it could make him happy. Ruto had also indicated that he would have preferred to be Minister for Local Government, a position i also held. On the issue of Cabinet, i decided that he would have to sort it out with the Party Leader and the President. Ruto was also crying foul about Kalenjin youths whom he said police had arrested during PEV.

He wondered why in ODM was not speaking for them, or trying to get them released. In truth, no names of such youths were ever provided. Eleven years later, the story seemed to have died a natural death. People started saying that their community had been used to make someone a Prime Minister. They were not happy at all about this .In short Ruto began moving in the Kalenjin Country side saying the position of Prime Minister was in fact his position. On a different front, the grand coalition began removing squatters from the Mau forest. The assignment was given to the Prime Minister to Supervise.

Raila embarked on the assignment with gusto. Raila and ODM were cast as being insensitive to the plight of families being evicted. Things were steadily looking grim for our unity and solidarity in the party. The Release of the Ocampo six was , in the forgoing circumstances , only the last straw that broke the camels back. A rankled Raila retorted ‘People should carry their own cross” This was it. He had crossed the line. Things would never be the same. Ruto assembled around himself a critical mass of Kalenjin politicians. They became openly defiant to Raila and ODM. They spoke the need to form their own party which they would use to seek power in the impending 2012 elections. The die was cast. It was just a question of when the Ruto brigade would decamp.