If you watch the video of William Ruto lamenting about how most of the people he has appointed to top government positions are incompetent, you are looking at evidence of STATE CAPTURE right there.
Some of the incompetent officials the head of state has appointed as CS, PS, CEOs of state corporations…are politicians, therefore, it can be argued that he is ‘repaying them for political support’, or he needs their political support in future, therefore he chose to ignore their incompetence and/or semi-literacy.
To be fair to Ruto, he is not the first Kenya head of state to reward politicians with big jobs in government.
However, never before has openly incompetent and/or semi-literate people – politicians or not – ever been appointed as CS or PS. Ruto’s govt is the first.
No wonder he is the first head of state in Kenya to state openly that people he has given big jobs are incompetent.
What is really going on?
It is important to look at another first that Ruto’s govt has done – He has appointed openly incompetent NON-POLITICIANS as CS, PS and other senior govt positions.
This is the puzzle that needs to be unravelled, to get the full picture about what is happening.
These openly incompetent NON-POLITICIANS were hardly known by Kenyans before.
Some were not even known by people beyond their village/town.
What is Ruto gaining by having these people occupying such senior positions in govt?
And it cannot be said that he was doing ‘friends a favour’, because there are many other non-sensitive jobs he could appoint them to, that does not expose their mediocrity to the whole country.
Furthermore, having all these incompetent people in sensitive govt positions is one reason the economy is doing so badly.
Ruto does not gain by the economy collapsing.
He does not gain by Kenyans experiencing the highest cost of living since independence.
(If someone has another theory about this very bizarre situation, let us read/hear about it.
Below is my theory about what is going on)
The Advisers
Ruto has an unusual team of advisers.
Forget about the well-known formal advisers.
The REAL advisers are people like Farouk Kibet, Veronica Maina and company.
I will simply call them THE ADVISERS.
My theory is that, it is THE ADVISERS who appointed the incompetent NON-POLITICIANS as CS, PS and other senior govt positions.
Technically, it is Ruto who appointed them, but it is THE ADVISERS who gave him the list…
I will explain the motive, but first, let us look briefly at Farouk & Veronica.
Farouk Kibet
On 27 August 2023, William Ruto toured western Kenya.
During a public rally, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula explained what it took for him and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi to join William Ruto’s camp (before last year’s election).
Speaking in Bungoma during an interdenominational service, he said it took the two of them up to four dinners with Farouk Kibet before they met Ruto for possibilities of working together ahead of the August 2022 polls.
Some media headlines regarding the event: “We Ate Farouk Kibet’s Dinner 4 Times Before We Joined William Ruto, Moses Wetang’ula Discloses”, “Wetang’ula: We ate Farouk’s dinner four times before joining Ruto camp”…
Mudavadi confirmed that, indeed, it was Farouk who delivered him and Wetangula to Ruto.
In other words, Farouk Kibet single-handedly delivered Musalia Mudavadi, his party and his supporters to William Ruto.
Farouk Kibet single-handedly delivered Moses Wetangula, his party and his supporters to William Ruto.
Wetangula knows he wouldn’t be National Assembly Speaker if it were not for Farouk.
Mudavadi knows he wouldn’t be Prime Cabinet Secretary if it were not for Farouk.
Veronica Maina
Veronica Maina single-handedly conquered Mt Kenya people.
I have written extensively about the tactics Veronica and her team used in order to conquer the Mountain people, so no need to repeat myself.
However, I would like to add the following: Veronica and her team made sure that, the politicians ‘elected’ in Mt Kenya, not only supported Ruto, but their loyalty to Ruto was 100% – That is to say, if there was a policy vote, where Ruto chose Option A, and these politicians’ constituents chose Option B, the politicians would all chose Ruto’s Option, contrary to their peoples’ interests.
Back to the THE ADVISERS
Without Farouk Kibet, Veronica Maina and the rest of THE ADVISERS, Ruto wouldn’t be head of state.
Therefore, technically, THE ADVISERS are Ruto’s bosses.
Obviously, THE ADVISERS also have their bosses, from abroad.
It is THE ADVISERS, upon directions from their bosses, who handed Ruto the list of the incompetent NON-POLITICIANS, for appointment as CS, PS and other senior govt positions.
They must have made sure ‘their people’ were appointed to a specific position, in a specific ministry/parastatal/department – because there is something THE ADVISERS’ bosses want in that ministry/parastatal/department.
Why Did THE ADVISERS/Their Bosses Only Recommend Incompetent People to be Appointed?
Because they had no choice.
It is safe to assume that, these incompetent NON-POLITICIANS appointed as CS, PS and other senior govt positions belong in 2 categories:
(a) Ordinary incompetent and/or semi-literate Kenyans
MOTIVE for their appointment:
No better puppet than such a person.
They wanted a non-knowledgeable puppet to be in that position, so they can use this puppet to get whatever they want in that government ministry/department.
(b) They are also part of THE ADVISERS
How, then, can they be incompetent?
In Kenya history, before this KK govt came to power, THE ADVISERS were never able to occupy top govt positions like CS, PS etc.
Also, they were never able to rise to top echelons of the leading local private sector enterprises – No wonder this govt really hates local ‘established private sector corporate elites’.
Long and short of this is that, among THE ADVISERS, they did not have people with local experience at top positions, either in govt, or private sector.
Furthermore, by their very nature, they have used short-cuts/shadowy activities to rise in business/academia/politics, and this is hardly an experience that will help you ran a whole government ministry/department.
Miscalculation – The Big Gamble
The biggest mistake that Ruto, THE ADVISERS et al made, was to under-estimate what the average Kenyan would do, when you tell him ‘corruption is okay’, and also provide him with the opportunity to steal.
I am sure that, even THE ADVISERS’ foreign bosses were caught off-guard, by the abnormal eating by top officials in the KK govt.
Before the elections, Ruto and his close associates said many times that ‘Corruption is not a problem; problem is mismanagement…’, and generally said, though not in so many words, that if they came to power, eating of public funds would be allowed.
William Ruto during TV interview (April 2019): “Corruption cannot stop a leader from delivering their mandate”.
Granted, not everyone in this govt is corrupt – but when you have so many incompetent people occupying very senior positions, their juniors will soon realise the boss is clueless, and become lethargic, and those who are greedy, would eat government funds like never before.
Time to Eat
On 5 September, 2022, the Supreme Court declared Ruto the ‘winner of the election’.
On 7th September – 6 days BEFORE being sworn in – his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, stormed the Treasury, and demanded sh1.6 Billion, “for me and my wife”.
That is how hungry many senior people in this govt were, to have ‘a taste of public funds’.
Within 6 months of coming to power, Ruto’s govt was broke – They couldn’t even afford to pay govt workers’ salaries.
They had to borrow money, just to pay salaries…
Back to Ruto Complaining About his Appointees Being Incompetent
The current situation in the country is tense.
Ruto and his team know that, if the ‘talks’ between Azimio coalition and KK coalition collapse, he will be toppled by hungry, angry Kenyans.
He absolutely has no wiggle room in this matter.
Alternative would be to revive the economy.
But, how do you revive the economy, when out of 22 Cabinet Secretaries, only 2-3 are competent?
Even if Ruto/THE ADVISERS decided to sack all the incompetent CSs, PSs and other top govt officials, who would they replace them with?
How President Daniel arap Moi Did It – And Why Ruto Cannot Do It
In the 1990s, president Moi’s govt was facing a lot of economic problems, and citizens had started becoming restless.
To appease the people, Moi appointed top technocrats from the private sector to senior govt positions – The so-called ‘Dream Team’.
These were the crème de la crème from the local private sector – Most, if not all of them, were not in Moi’s political party, and also, most, if not all, would not have voted for him…
Moi knew this, but didn’t care.
All he wanted was to calm wananchi (and also probably believed these technocrats would revive the ailing economy).
Moi did not lose any political support by doing this – he actually gained more politically.
However, if Ruto’s govt did that, and replaced all the incompetent senior officials with very competent people, who do not support his party/are known to be friends with his political opponents, he would lose almost all political support from Mt Kenya region.
Reason is because, most of his supporters in Mt Kenya have been bombarded with (dis)information – for years – that made them believe that when Ruto did/advocated something bad for them/country, what he did/advocated for, was actually good.
Example: They were made to believe that, if you picked a random person from the street, and made him a Permanent Secretary, Director of a parastatal or other senior govt position, you are a very good leader, because you ‘give opportunity to everyone’.
If you now sack these incompetent people, and replace them with others, employed based purely on merit – and to make it even worse, most of them are not in the ruling political coalition – the wool covering a lot of Mt Kenya peoples’ eyes would come off.
They would start seeing clearly again.
And there is no way they would continue supporting Ruto after that.
Some might even start calling him ‘political conman’.
End Game
Ruto might be asking himself, “why did Farouk and Veronica demand I appoint these jokers?”
Ruto/THE ADVISERS must be desperately hoping that the ‘talks’ could go on forever, or at least last until mid-2024.
By the time they complete drafting new laws/referendum (if needed), it would be January 2025.
By then every politician would be thinking about the next general election.
Ruto/THE ADVISERS know that, if he survives until 2027, that election would be a walk-over, regardless of whether his actual support in the country was 10%, 20%…
By then the shilling could be exchanging at 1US$=KES300; 2kg packet of unga could be retailing at sh400; petrol could be sh500 per litre…
But The Advisers would sit down, and decide whether Ruto should ‘win’ by 52.7%, 71.6%…
And whatever figure they choose, is the one that would be announced by the electoral commission.
That is the state of Kenya now.
UKWELI 