Photo: From Left William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga (Source/Star.co.ke).
Concentrated acids are naturally corrosive and dilution is the only known way to make them less corrosive, isn't Chemistry interesting? One cannot analyze the country's politics without William Ruto and Raila Odinga's names popping up.
The duo are angling to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta whose ten-year tenure is on its dying phase. Uhuru has however been embroided in Ruto-Raila friction and should he fail to pull a Solomonic wisdom to unpolarize their rivalry, 2022 elections will predictably leave the country more charged than ever before. Is this what Uhuru wants to be remembered for? Likely not.
The handshake between Uhuru and Raila edged Ruto out of favour with his party boss and their relationship has since turned sour with Raila-Uhuru dalliance blossoming. Jakom is currently staking on his closeness to Kenyatta to propel his 2022 bid.
On the other hand, Uhuru is bound by Jubilee's 2013 pre-election pact to throw his gauntlet behind the son of Sugoi. The duo agreed to support each other in a ten-ten year basis. Ruto has kept his part of bargain and 2022 will be Uhuru's turn to reciprocate. Will he honour the pact? Time will tell.
Raila and Ruto are casting their eyes on Uhuru and this has put him at crossroads. Who should he support? If he supports Agwambo, Ruto's supporters will feel betrayed and if he supports Ruto in favour of Raila, Baba's marshals will unsheathe their machetes.
To disentangle himself out of this loop, Uhuru should create a fair battleground and enabling environment for the two titans to wrestle it out by themselves. But before doing that, Uhuru should start by reuniting the two warrying doyens, this will save the country from immature campaigns and the president will have a calm environment to fulfill his campaign pledge.
The easiest way to leverage the battleground is by ensuring that the judiciary and electoral body are independent and well funded. Uhuru has power to convince parliament to enact strict rules to be followed by candidates and should anyone flout them, judiciary will do the rest.
Creating a fair ground and leaving the hopefuls to fire their shots will absolve Muigai from any blame and political debts. Giving Kenyans a chance to chose by merit who they want as their fifth president will further watermark Uhuru as a political 'gentleman'.
Whoever loses in a free and fair race should concede and support the victor. That will be the only ingenious tactic to shield the country from polarized politics in 2022.
