Law Professor Makau Mutua on Saturday, July 18, announced his decision to turn down an offer to work for Deputy President William Ruto's campaign team.
In an op-ed article on the Daily Nation, the the vocal law proffessor categorically refuted the possibility of working with DP Ruto's 2022 campaign team.
"Today, I give the answer. Mr Ruto and his campaign should read my lips – or rather the words from the tip of my pen. The answer is nyet (Russian for No). I can’t – and won’t – work with Mr Ruto. Never. Ever. Case closed," reads an excerpt from his statement.
He went on to list several contentious reasons behind his decision to turn down the alleged job offer, terming the country's second in command as an anti-reformist.
According to Mutua, DP Ruto's brand of politics goes against his own ethos, further stating that he had felt that way ever since the emergence of the budding former Eldoret-North MP during the Youth for KANU '92 era.
"Given Ruto’s anti-democratic legacy and the allegations of corruption, it stretches credulity that any legitimate civil society organisation – let alone the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), which I co-founded three decades ago, with rights champion Maina Kiai, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, Governor Kiraitu Murungi, and journalist Peter Kareithi – would ever have anything to do with Mr Ruto," he asserted.
His latest comments come in the wake of an article he wrote, hailing ODM party leader Raila as one of Kenya's foremost patriots alongside his father, founding Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
The renowned professor argued that the Odingas were an opposition dynasty that had paid the price of living under authoritarian regimes as they tried to liberate the country.
He referenced years spent by Raila in detention, the harassment his wife Ida faced, and the battles of his father, Jaramogi, against former President Daniel Arap Moi.
The lawyer's bold views sparked mixed reactions with some agreeing, while others questioned his observations.
